Transfer! March 25, 2013

 Oii tudo mundo,

So... I’m not writing this email from Bon Sucesso!!! I was transferred, and I’m now in Almirante Tamandaré! It’s pretty cool... it’s an entire city and on the outskirts of Curitiba! I just got here like 2 hours ago though, so I don’t really know much. ha. My comp is Elder Reeves, from Utah. I already knew him because he was in my zone in Ponta Grossa, and he’s way cool. He’s been out for a year and 6 months, and he’s a way good missionary! I am super excited to work with him!

I’m a little bummed to leave Bom Sucesso. I loved that place and the people. It really is the best area in the mission ha... We baptized a lot there... which reminds me, we baptized this Sunday!!!!! R.! He’s 12... and he lives with his mom and older brother... who are going to be baptized this next Sunday.... We marked baptismal dates with them about a month ago… for March 24th.... but there was one Sunday when the mom, I., and the older brother Rh. didn’t go, so they had to wait one more Sunday... But we asked R. if he wanted to wait and be baptized with his family and he said that he wanted to be baptized this Sunday! It was awesome! His whole family went and a few of his friends that live on the same street..... It was an awesome last Sunday... but I was robbed ha! I want to baptize his mom and brother too! But they will for sure be getting baptized this Sunday, and I’m still counting them as mine because we taught them everything!!!!! Ha

Also, I gave a talk in sacrament meeting (for 15 minutes) about strengthening the missionary work in the ward. It went super well. I was a little nervous to talk for 15 min in another language ha, but it went super smooth and I talked really well. It was funny, I wrote a lot of notes to use, but when I started talking I didn’t look at them once, so I talked a lot about things I didn’t plan ha.

So Ryan, your solo sounds sick. I want a video!!! To answer your questions. I had sardines the other day (big ones) that were fried with the heads on, and you just eat the eyes and everything ha. It was a little weird. Also, the mission is way different than I imagined it. I am loving it! It’s hard work... some days are super hard, but it’s always rewarding and I know the lord is helping me.

I can’t believe I have been out for 6 months... going on 7 now. It’s going by fast. Not super-fast... but it’s getting faster every day ha. It feels like I just left the CTM last week!

Oh!!! So my [debit] card stopped working... Brother P. let me call on his phone (It was collect so it didn’t cost him anything.) and when they asked me my security questioned I answered wrong ha. I had to call back and try again.... the problem was that I still had the Morgan Wieland address as my place of residence. But I got it on the second try. But they told me that they thought my card was stolen so they cancelled it... and sent another one on Feb 21... to the Morgan Wieland address. So I explained it all to them, and they canceled that card and sent another one to the right address! It should get there today or tomorrow. Please send it off to me with lots of letters as soon as you can ha! I’m a little mad they didn’t call to ask! They just canceled it and sent another card to an old address ha. Stupid bank.

Mom I’m glad you got the letter [B-day letter], and that it made you cry!! Remi, I’m so excited for you that you get to spend the 2 weeks with Ryan!! That will be so fun for you, buddy!

But anyway that’s all for now. It’s been a crazy week, and I am super excited to get to know my new area.

I love and miss you all.

Elder Miller

 

R's family at his Baptism, March 24, 2013.

 

 

Good bye Elder A. Silva!

Oiii!!! March 18, 2013

Oiii tudo mundo!!

Happy B-day mom!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 50 years old? I think so, ha!!! Only 551 weeks until I come home and can give you a big hug!! Whoo!

 

 

 

 

[Photo from my (Mom's) surprise B-day dinner. I received a wonderful missionary countdown block set. I was so proud that my guess for the picture was 551 days, when I got home and checked it was actually 558! But the next morning Remington pointed out that the block actually says "weeks." Now, that would be a L-O-N-G mission! The actual number is now 78 weeks! Tomorrow is the 6th month/Quarter mark!!!]

 

Thank you for the email; I loved hearing all about your weeks. Mom's B-day sounded super fun. You're are living it up!! Ha, Mom congrats on the progress with your novel and for stepping in Truman's poop [Don't ask.]. Remi, congrats on the back pack blower, you little stud. Dad email me back! ha

 

So this week was another good one. We found two awesome families and we have been teaching them almost every day! They are progressing really well and I am excited to see what happens. This coming Sunday we have a family that should be baptized. It's a single mom and her two sons ... Her sons love us, haha. We played soccer with them for about 10 minutes the other day (I'll send a pic) and afterwords cut their hair (in prep for their baptisms) ... They both said they wanted "hair like Elder Miller." Ha. We also did a huge family home evening with 3 families and watched "The Testaments," a movie from the church about when Christ visited the Americas. (Have you seen it?) It was so spiritual and lots of people cried. ha.

 

But hopefully next week we will have 5 baptisms!!!

 

Mom, only the jacket was missing from my package. I guess some mail worker was cold. I'm glad he wasn't hungry though, because the candy and peanut butter and protein bars were so good! Thank you!

 

I think that's all for now ... I'm having a serious brainfart. I will send some pics and try and think of more news!

 

But I love you all.

Tchau, [Good-bye]

Elder Miller

 

 

[I don't know what or why. Because they are guys and they can, I guess.]

Tranquillo March 11, 2013

Oii tudo mundo [Hello everyone?],

So this week was a good one! I’m not sick any more and I’m feeling great! Back to working out hard in the morning and walking all day in the sun ha!

So the big news!! We had two baptisms!!!!!!!! F. and R. F. is 18 and he is awesome. He wants to serve a mission and it is crazy how fast he has soaked up the gospel. We are teaching his family still and they have come to church the past two Sundays now! The mom and dad smoke but they are progressing well and should stop completely this week.]

R. is 14 and he was a challenge. We have been teaching him for a while and he has changed a ton. IDK [I don’t know] if you remember but Luis ( I baptized with Elder Arrioala) also is 14, and they have hit it off! They are super good friends and I think they are going to serve missions one day!!

R's mom also has changed a ton! She did NOT like the church at first and heard some things about baptisms for the dead... but she let us help R. because she was desperate for help ... but she came to church this Sunday to see his baptism and loved it!! We are teaching the whole family now and they have dates for their baptisms!

We marked 11 baptismal dates Sunday after church and had 10 investigators at church! Milagres [Miracles]!!

Also... I got my packages!!!! Thank you, thank you!! Everything was fine... except the jacket was missing? Was it stolen? I saw you bought insurance so you should use it if it was! But thank you so much, I loved it all! The work out band is awesome and the jump rope will be used a lot!

Other than that my week wasn’t too crazy. Oh, I saw a man bleeding out on the sidewalk and having seizures, but the ambulance got there at the same time we did, so there wasn’t anything we could do.

But that’s all for now. No, Mom I’m not sick. ha I’m not dying... Tranquillo [Chill?]. Sam … congrats!! BYU man!!! Que legal! [That’s cool!] Ryan how was the superman song?? Did you already perform? I want a recording!!! Remi … the backpack blower!!! Minha nossa! [Wow!] Your business is legit, Buddy!

I love you all,
Elder Miller

I’m sending pics!

Elders Miller and A Silva

Elder Miller with a ward friend who often goes tracting with them.

 

Um abraço March 4,2013

REMINGTON! Mom, Dad, Ryan, Jaimee and Sam!

Thank you for the emails!
So, this week was terrible!!!!!

JK [Just kidding] It was another good one. But I am sick : ( I got sick like three days ago ands it's really sticking with me : ( But I'm working through it and we are having success.

Remington!!!!!!! Before I forget, that blower sounds awesome. You are so rich with over 200 dollars!!! Buy me a car?

Mom and Dad, the new car is pretty sweet. It moved you up 20 cool points! (So you have 20 now. haha)

Ryan, to answer your questions: What's the craziest experience you've had lately? How long does snail mail usually take to get to you from the states? Do you miss American food? And what's your current companion like?

The craziest experience lately: I saw someone get robbed! It was crazy and it was far away so there was nothing I could do. But they were fine and no one got hurt.

I think it takes like a month for letters to get here... It's pretty slow. Sometimes three weeks or two and-a-half if you're lucky.

 

I miss American food... a lot ha. I would kill for In and Out, or Five Guys, or one of Dad's hamburgers!

My current comp is way cool. He's CRAZY and can be super scattered (It gets pretty interesting when we teach -- sometimes I have to tie things like the restoration in with college, or the plan of salvation with soccer -- he loses his train of thought. ha) But he is so excited about the work!!!!!!

But this week, our investigators weren't progressing super well. We didn't have baptisms, because they drank coffee!!! Dangit! But we are gunna have three this next Sunday! I know it!!! Coffee is a huge problem here ha! But we also found an awesome family this week, and they are soaking up the lessons. The mom smokes, but she wants to quit so bad! I'm very excited to keep working with them.

And we had 10 investigators in church this week! And they all loved it!! I was so excited to have that many there, because the week wasn't a super good one, but that helped make it a lot better.

But thats all for now!

Love you all and miss you all!!!!

Um abraço, [a hug]

Elder Miller

Oiii tudo mundo!! February 25, 2013

Oiii tudo mundo!!

So this week was ANOTHER good one. Every email is going to start off like that ha.

So I’m staying another transfer and super happy about it. When the new Elders and Sisters arrived in our zone, a few of them thought I was Brazilian, because I don't have an American accent!! So I was super happy about that... I still have days that are hard, but most of the time I am speaking really well.

So, Mom, Dad, Ryan and Sam, you already know, but they are dividing my mish! [It was announced this week, that in July the Brazil Curitiba Mission will be split in two, the other half becoming the Brazil Curitiba South Mission.] I want to stay in the south part... with Ponta Grossa and maybe Iaguacu Falls!! But either way, I’m sure I will end up where I’m needed.

This week we found some awesome investigators!!! We found an ex-pastor of an evangelical church... and he’s a super nice guy. He’s been soaking up the lessons and reading the book of Mormon, but he hasn’t prayed yet to ask if it’s true... but he will! I think were gunna baptize a pastor ha! Super cool. R., a teenager we have been working with, should be getting baptized this week. He was supposed to be baptized this past Sunday, and he passed the interview, but his mom wouldn’t let him because she thinks he’s not ready to be baptized... so we are working with her. She’s not a huge fan of the church, and somehow she knows a lot about baptisms for the dead ha, so it should be a fun week.

The family you asked about names are: M., D., [The man who was killed by the train.] and their 4 kids and I don’t know how to spell their names. Ha. They are progressing realçly [I left that Portuguese “ç” typo in there to show that Elder Miller’s keyboard must be different. It gives me hope for his spelling!] slowly, but we are still working with them. She is depressed I think, and she doesn’t have a lot of motivation to do anything (like read or go to church) but we're not giving up.

So a few random facts to end this email....we almost died on the way to another city called Castro to do a baptismal interview. We were in one of the double accordion busses and it was raining hard... and for some reason the bus driver started stopping super fast, and the back half of the bus (that we were in) swung around and went parallel with the front half ha! It was crazy, but no one was hurt.

Also, a crazy guy came up to me speaking ´´English.´´ ha. He was just speaking gibberish but he thought it made sense. I had to tell him like 20 times that he wasn’t speaking English... and he still thought he was. It was hilarious though, and it was in the middle of a bus terminal and tons of people were watching.

Also, we tried teaching a family last night and I’m not sure why, but the drunk husband wanted to fight me (I think because I’m white... but his wife was white too. ha) so that was exciting. He was a small guy, and drunk, so I was pretty confident ha-ha. But because I’m a missionary, we walked away as he was swearing. It was hard. ha

So that’s all for now. I love you all so much and miss you too,

Elder Miller

 

Elders Miller and A Silva and their wonderful Ward Mission Leader.

Happy birthday!

 

Still in Ponta Grossa February 18, 2013

Soo... I'm staying in BON SUCESSO!!! Woop! I was a little nervous I was gunna leave this transfer, but I've got at least one more here in the Celestial Kingdom!! Which is good, because I think we are going to have even more baptisms this transfer!!

We didn't have a baptism this week : ( Our interviews fell through... no one was home, dang it! But they all went to church yesterday! So we will have the interviews this week!! But we had 8 good investigators in church yesterday... and I think all of them will be baptized this transfer! Hopefully a lot more ha.

Yesterday after church we had a family home evening with a recent convert family and it was super fun.... I shared a message about Christ.. and my comp said I sounded Brazilian when I was talking! And it's so weird, now I really don't have to try to talk or understand, it's just natural. I'm still learning new words everyday and working on my accent, but its so cool being able to just talk with out problems!

Dad and Mom! You two lovebirds are so cute ha. [We sent him pictures.] Thanks for the Valentine's help Mom and Dad... you guys are the best  : )

Ryan! That picture is awesome! I'm still a little confused where you are right now, [Ryan spent the long weekend with friends at a beautiful cabin in thesnowy mountains of the Idaho Palisades.] but I'm definitely jealous! It's super hot here right now, I'm sweating like crazy just typing this email!

So, I took lots of pics this week, and I will send a few real quick. Also, I made a few videos that are super funny. [No videos came through.]

I had to kick another dog in the face this week (he looked a lot like Truman, but about twice the size and he tried to bite me).

Oh! One other cool thing. Today I was studying scripture for personal study... and I'm reading in 2 Nephi where he's quoting Isaiah... in Portuguese, so it's a little hard to understand. ha So I turned to my English scriptures for help, and as I was flipping to the right page, I found my Patriarchal Blessing, and started reading. I felt the spirit so strong as I realized how accurate it has already been. It has so much counsel for me and my mission. It was crazy! It's seriously incredible how much guidance it gave me today, and how well our Father in Heaven knows each of us personally.

But I'm going to send those pics.

I love you all,

Elder Miller

Bad hair week? February 11, 2013

Oiii tudo mundo,

So this week, we baptized B.Saturday! And he was confirmed on Sunday!!! I don’t know if I explained about B's family... but they [hadn't come to church for about 5 years] and we have got them all coming to church again... and they are really enjoying it!

It was a super good week! We marked 24 dates for baptism this week!!! But we didn’t have a lot of investigators in church this Sunday : ( Sunday was super cold and raining super hard, so I think no one felt like getting out of bed : ( But next week should be better...I want to have like 30 investigators in church. Ha. We had 4 [investigators] at B’s baptism and afterwards we taught them the first lesson and marked dates, so I’m hoping that goes well!!!

We taught the family of the man who was killed by the train a couple more times... and they forgot to go to church : ( But they are still progressing and I feel like the gospel is really bringing them comfort.

Also, this week I taught another guy for the first time... It went really well actually, and he has a lot of faith in Christ!

Also, I got a terrible haircut... The worst haircut of my life. Ha. But it will grow back. And I borrowed clippers from another missionary and fixed it up a little bit. Ha.

I don’t even know what else to say... I have so many investigators and people that we are helping I have no idea where to start. Ha. I’m loving it here!!! The transfer ends this Sunday and I’m a little worried I’m going to get transferred, but we will see what happens!!

So Ryan... that’s awesome you’ve got a good team!! You are going to make bank!!! Ha. All the Living Scriptures guys! Ha! Speaking of Living Scriptures... I saw it again down here... It’s pirated. No joke. Some other company pirated Living Scriptures for sure. It’s not Nest Entertainment. Ha. It’s some Brazilian company, but they only have like three or four of the films ha.

 

Mom that’s super cool Anthony was called to Brazil!! Que legal!

 

Ha Remi! Good job helping Dad with the shed!!! Did you have an interview at Publix? And congrats with the Sacrament, Buddy!! You will do awesome!

 

Dad, the shed looks awesome!!

Well, that’s all for now! I’m going to send pics.

Love you all,

Elder Miller

 

So this first picture is at a recent convert’s house. Their family is super cool... and their little girl, M. is soooo cute. Ha. She wanted to take a picture with me really bad! So I had to hold her up Ha.

 

The other one is at a family home evening we had with a bunch of members and investigators... we played a cool game where you make a mountain out of flour... and put a centavo (a coin) on top... and everyone has to cut a piece of the mountain away with a knife until it gets super small and falls.... and whoever makes it fall has to grap [grab] the coin using their mouth. Ha.

 

And the last one is B.'s baptism... It was an awesome day!!!

 
[PS Today the beautiful photo on Bing.com is of Iguazu Falls in the state of Parana, Brazil, where Elder Miller is serving! He chose a photo of them for the background of this blog!
http://www.bing.com/]