Last Email of the year! December 30, 2013

So this week was poop. I got sick on Thursday and I haven’t been feeling well for the past four days now. Out of the 8 people that were supposed to go to church only one went and I don’t think she liked church very much. Half the ward is traveling . . . Oh, and during sacrament meeting a member came and pulled us out to give a blessing to a girl, she is doing better now.

Hopefully we can get this family of three baptized this week. The husband is trying to quit smoking. 

But on a happier note, I loved talking to you all and Christmas was great!

Mom, thanks again for the Christmas packages. I got everything I wanted :) Oh and do you know how much I have in my account??

Dad, good job on the diet! If you want to lose even more weight go on splits with the missionaries ha, there are a few Elders that have lost over 40 pounds in the mission here.

Ryan, the car shopping sounds fun. If I was you I think I’d go with the Honda... They are more reliable I think!!! Send pics next time!! Did you put that pic on my face book for me? Please do!

Remi! I bet the Fort Frasier trial will be awesome! Is it just for fun or is it for scouts? Those spiral Christmas trees sounds sweet too!

I love you all. Happy New Year!!!

Elder Miller

An interesting Q & A happened, because Elder Miller's Dad is home on vacation . . .
They had gone back and forth a bit and then . . .:

Elder Miller: haha lazy bum. i wish i could wake up at 10:57.

Dad: It's not that great! 

Elder Miller:  yes it is. in the mission you are permanently tired for two years....

Dad: I know. Get to bed earlier?

Elder Miller: i go to bed as early as possible ha ill probably take a nap today though :)

Dad: Naps always help me. I love them.

Elder Miller: yeah.. they are my favorite thing on the mish.

Dad: Are there any interesting local sites you can visit on p-day?

Elder Miller: no our area is really small, and president made a rule that you can't leave your area on pday now

Dad: I see. Are there other mishes close by to play sports with?

Elder Miller: but they also made a rule that we cant play sports remember?

but its pretty boring on pday now :( district activities would be so fun.

Dad: What will you do today, then?

Elder Miller: play guitar and sleep i think ha. the only things i can do. maybe watch a church video too. have you seen "17 Miracles." we got permission to watch it.

Then Ryan asked: What do you do for New Year's there? Do you have to stay inside, or what?

Elder Miller: were probably not gunna do much. last year i didn't sleep much because of all the fireworks! they are crazy here and there is no such thing as illegal when it comes to fireworks ha

They went on to talk about job/school stuff, and then . . .

Elder Miller: my time is up though. thanks for all you help though, bro. have an awesome day.

um abraço :) love you all

 

 

Feliz Natal! December 25,2013

Our Christmas family portrait, courtesy of Skype!

 

Mom's favorite quote of the conversation:

"I made a vow today: to never wake up sweating on Christmas morning, again." Elder Reece Miller.

It was about 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit)! And no A/C to be found.

 

 

Elder Miller did not write an email on Christmas, but he did send a few pictures:

 

 

 Scrumptious Christmas Feast for the missionaries!

 Many thanks to their kind hosts!

 Christmas Conference

Yes, I think he needed new slacks!

 

And a few more from our Skype call:

 



Merry Missionary Christmas Conference! December 16, 2013

Where's Elder Miller?

So I just got back from Curitiba... I had to go to the center to get one of my packages... the "correios" office was holding it and made me pay 72 reals [about $31 American]in taxes to get it... hopefully that doesn’t happen with the other because I am poor now. ha

We didn’t baptize this week. There is a young lady, but she probably won’t be baptized for at least another week.

This week was a good one though... we had our mission Christmas conference and it was awesome! It was a competition between the zones. Every zone had 5 minutes to do a spiritual presentation. Our zone sang "Away in a Manger" in English, then Spanish, then Portuguese (one verse in each language). And to start off [the song], 5 Elders and Sisters sang harmony and I read a few verses from chapter 2 of Luke in a deep smooth voice. ha... And then after all the zones had presented every zone had to tell a joke, a funny story from the mission, a spiritual story from the book of Mormon, and a magic trick. I did the magic trick with my comp! We won that part of the contest, but lost overall.... There was also a contest of "the photo with the largest number of people being baptized from the past three weeks." We almost won with our family we baptized, but two Elders baptized 5 brothers from Haiti! Poop!! ha No, it’s good that the mission is baptizing a lot! :)

SKYPE... will probably be about 3 o'clock here... so 12 o'clock there right? Our p-day is going to be moved to the 25^th, so Monday I won’t send email.

Yes, you can open the package! [Our first successfully delivered package!] It’s not very cool... not much would fit in the envelope and I didn’t want to put anything valuable in the mail. [Good thing, the big items were stolen!]

Mom, I loved the Christmas newsletter. ha I actually laughed out loud. Maybe you could make a joke about baptisms and how much Roxy hates baths...IDK ha. Like I said, I got my package! I wanted to know... if you sent pants... if I could open them early? You will see why in one of the pics I’m going to send. But I need pants. ha

Dad! Elder Bartmess' dad knows you, Dad!!!! He said "Scott Miller? With dark, brown, wavy hair?" ha You were about 9 months ahead of him I think. I loved the analysis of the way Remington would handle the cupcake test. [A psychological test we heard about in church.] I completely agree ha.

Ryan! The pics look sweet and that girl is a gata! ha She’s cute! Take her on another date. What is the Gordon B. Hinckley Award?? That looks awesome man!!! I can’t believe you’re graduating. Time flies!! Did Daren break his collar bone on the bike trip? He fell or what? ha Oh and I loved the videos ha, I wish I could have heard you better but I heard enough to know you killed the solo!! Way to go bro!!!

Remington!! You’re lucky you get to see Ryan’s graduation and I bet your band concert will be sweet. Are you playing the triangle or bass drum or what?? I’m still waiting on the pic of the Christmas decorations!

Well I love you all!

I attached a pic of the mission conference, but I forgot my cord for my camera, so I’ll send the other pics next time.

Elder Miller

Monkey Money December 9, 2013

The money here is funny. I just noticed the other day that this monkey looks like he's using drugs.

 

 

So this week I kind of baptized!!! ha Not in my area though. In my district no one had a baptismal date, but the Elders in Pinhais had a lady that had been to church two times and her daughter who had been twice and went to mutual a few times as well. The daughter was almost baptized two weeks ago, but the mom didn’t let her (I interviewed her).... so I went there on Saturday and did like a baptismal interview with the mom. We talked for a long time and read a ton of scriptures. I focused on the daughter (because she wanted to be baptized) and then, after about 20 min she said she would let her daughter be baptized... but I didn’t stop there ha... I then explained she needed to be baptized too. We talked for a while and both felt the spirit and after about 20 more minutes she accepted the invitation to be baptized :) And asked me to baptize her!

Sunday night we went to the chapel in Pinhais and right before the baptism... the daughter got scared. (She’s scared of water) ha Nobody knew that. Everyone was talking to her and trying to encourage her but it wasn’t working. I asked if I could talk to her alone and we had another "baptismal interview." We knelt down and said a prayer and talked for a long time about the importance of baptism and a few fears that she had... and after about 30 minutes she said "Okay... I’m going to get baptized!" It was awesome!!

 

Then after the baptism we got back to our area at like 8 o clock, but we wanted to teach two more lessons so we went running in the street knocking doors... and found two families and taught them two lessons! :) It was awesome!! I’m learning a lot about faith here. ha If you have faith and do your part, God will always do His.

Mom the “slide into a book” wall [at the library] looks awesome!!! That mission would be sweet for Remi!! I hope he serves!!! That stinks it’s a small [Christmas] tree...170 dollares [dollars!]is a ton! Just do what Elf did and cut one down in Central Park. And the Relief Society cookie exchange sounds sweet. I still don’t know what time I will be Skyping... I’ll let you know this next p-day. Oh, did you find out more about school for me???

Dad, eat lobster up there in Rhode Island for me!! I’ve heard it’s supposed to be really good!! And you didn’t answer my question about Elder Bartmess from your mission!! Send pics of New England!! And good luck and safe travels.

Ryan I want an email. You need to tell me more about your Thanksgiving adventures!!!

Remi!! Where are my pics?? I asked for pics of the tree and lights and decorations you punk!!! I want to see the reindeer too!!!

I’m super excited to Skype with you all!!! I hope you’re all doing great!

Love you!!
Elder Miller

My desk was a mess!! It's not usually like that I promise.

Cookies and Cow Tung? December 2, 2013

We baptized the family of 4!!!!! It was awesome. Elder Santos was transferred to Pinhais Centro... Which is the area right next to Autodromo... so I’m still his district leader. ha I got permission from President Monteiro and he was able to come to the baptism and baptize two of them :). Thursday night at 8 we had a super spiritual baptismal meeting with about 40 members there. Lots of the sisters in the ward made cake and sweets... I made cookies... and they were gone. ha. All the sisters want the recipe now.

 

 

Then on Sunday all four were confirmed. Oh, and Saturday night when we went by to drop of the pic of the baptism and teach a little about the Holy Ghost, they gave me a pair of new dress shoes! ha. A. said my shoes were looking a little beat up and he wanted to do something nice for me... (I polish them every day... but 1 year and 3 months of usage take its toll.) At the baptism he tricked me and said I had big feet and asked what size I use. haha I love this family and I am sure A. is going to be bishop one day. They are so Christlike and their baptism was one of the best moments of my mission.

My new companion is Elder Lima from the Bahia. He’s pretty chill and has been out for about 8 months so he knows how to teach well, which is nice ha.

This week was really busy... I did two baptismal interviews in my district and one in the zone leaders’ area. And when the guy I interviewed was baptized I sang with Elder Eddington at his baptism (I just sung melody and Eddington sang harmony) but it was sweet! (I don’t know if it’s sung or sang... I’m forgetting English.)

We also had a conference with Elder Juno . . . an area Seventy. It was pretty good... he talked about a lot of random stuff, though. It was difficult, because I was translating for a group of new elders and sisters. ha.

Oh, fun fact, yesterday for lunch I ate cow tung [tongue]... it’s actually good! I’ll send a pic!

 

 

Mom thanks for the pics. TSO [Transiberian Orchestra] looks sweet!!! I’m sorry you got sick again. It seems like you get sick every other week. I’m glad you got the Christmas decorations up ha.

Dad . . . it looks like you made good progress on the work bench! And the TSO looks awesome!!! I’m glad you got to go! Ohh, and there is an Elder Bartmess in my district whose dad served in your mission. His dad is 51 so I bet you know him!!!!

Ryan, I want to know more about your trip man!! You went surfing in November! ha. And rode a bike how many miles? Is that your bike? And did you actually go flying in the Owen's plane? That’s sweet! It looks like you are living it up!

Remi, that was the shortest email ever! What did you do with your last days of Thanksgiving break? And are you happy to be going back to school? You need to write more in you emails boy! Send pics of the Christmas stuff!!

I love you all!!!
Elder Miller

Is it Thanksgiving yet? November 25, 2013

This week was awesome. We worked really hard with A., M., F., and J. . . and tried really hard to baptize them this Sunday. M., F. and J. all accepted but A. wanted to wait a little more before he decided. A. said he just wanted a little more time before he answered and he asked me what would happen if he said "no". . .  and I said, "We won’t accept that answer" ha.

Yesterday they all went to church and loved it . . .  and at night we passed by their house because A. said he had an answer for us. When we got there we sat down and he said he had two announcements. A good one and a bad one. He said the bad is that he wouldn’t be getting baptized . . . The good was that it was a lie. haha We are going to baptize them this Thursday!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I'VE WANTED TO BAPTIZE A FAMILY ALL TOGETHER LIKE THIS MY WHOLE MISSION! It’s going to be sweet!

Sadly . . .  Elder Santos was transferred though... he leaves tomorrow. And will be training a new missionary for the first time. He’s excited about that and I think it will help him a lot. I’m going to ask President tomorrow at the transfer meeting if he can come back to baptize two of them . . .  because it’s not fair he has to leave. ha I know what it feels like to be robbed of the baptism and I don’t want that to happen to him.

Dad... Why are you going to the chiropractor... all that work you did on Saturday mess you up? ha It sounds like the house is in ship shape. I want to see the Doctor Seuss fireplace. [For a ward party.] That will be cool I bet. I wrote Grandma a letter and I'm sending it with your package today hopefully... We don’t have a post office here in our area so we will have to take a bus to get to one.

Mom . . .  that so sad Brother D. passed away . . . have you talked to Sister D., yet?? Oh and no one celebrates Thanksgiving here so it was a normal day . . . :( I wanted pumpkin pie so bad ha or apple pie or ham or rolls or something . . . [Thanksgiving has not happened yet!] Who’s doing dancing with the stars this year?

Ryan . . . the zombie party looks sweet! And that girl looks cute :) And what do you mean cycling 230 miles??? Are you crazy? Have you been training for that??? haha Wait . . .  It was for Thanksgiving, so you already went? How was it? ha Can you feel your bum still?

And what did you do with your senior project? Is that from Brother B's company? What happened to the sales advice book?

Remi! Your b-day party looks like it was a lot of fun!! What did you get??? I don’t recognize any of the kids in the pictures ha. I wrote you a letter this week!! I’m sending it today hopefully in a little package for you all. How fun you don’t have school this week . . . What are you gunna do????

Well I love you all and miss you lots,
Elder Miller