Hermana Miller: Week 18: Tengo gozo en mi alma hoy! (There is sunshine in my soul today!)

Aye que increible es ser una misionera! No puedo creer que casi he terminado un cuarto de mision!

(Aye it is amazing to be a missionary! I can not believe I've almost finished a quarter of a mission! – thank you, Google translate!)

YOU GUYS. This work just flies by.  I cannot believe I am coming up on my quarter mark.  And another transfer is over!  Say whaaaat?!  It's not fair.  I just wish I could be a missionary for forever.  We will be getting transfer calls this week, I am super nervous.  I am praying like crazy that Heavenly Father will grant me the wish of my heart and permit me to stay with my Grand Island family for longer. I sincerely and truly love it here, and these people need the gospel so badly.  Everyone does.  I am coming to learn that it does not matter who you are, or where you are from, or what you have done, the gospel is FOR YOU.  It helps and blesses everyone, no matter what you are going through.  The hardest thing in the world is knowing that, and knowing that your investigators know that, and seeing them just walk away from the most beautiful and joyful message they could ever receive.  We have had that happen quite a few times recently, where our investigators with baptismal dates have just dropped us out of the blue.  Satan truly does work on people, he knows how important the decision is to be baptized WITH THE PROPER AND RESTORED AUTHORITY,  and he knows the joy and peace and strength it gives us,  and he will do anything to keep us from that.  

I have seen him make children sick, run visas out, cause family contention, and fill people's minds with doubts and lies among many other horrible things, just to keep one person from being baptized.  It's so hard sometimes.  Esthela still wants to get baptized but can't get her visa figured out to come back and the missionaries in Mexico can't find her for some reason.  Jose, our investigator who was supposed to get baptized this coming Saturday, just told us that he has to go back to Mexico as well, and is not sure when he will come back.  It breaks my heart.  This work truly takes all of your heart and soul if you are being obedient and trying your best to be focused, and sometimes it just beats you up.  But as I have always said, with the greatest lows come the most wonderful joys,  greater than anything you could ever imagine.

We saw MIRACLES this week finding people.  We saw a teen girl walking and felt like we should talk to her, but by the time we parked the car and hopped out, she had disappeared.  We prayed that we would find her again one day, and had to leave to go do service.  Well, later that day we were driving and we saw her again!   This time we stopped the car immediately and jumped out and began talking to her and her friend. After about 10 minutes, she invited us to walk to her house with her.   We went in, met her family and taught them.  They are amazing and so ready to receive the gospel.  We have another lesson with them tonight, and one with her friend's family tomorrow.   God truly does hear and answer prayers.

  

Secondly, we tried to visit a less-active woman this week and she was not home, so we decided to knock a couple doors on the next apartment building over.   After no success for a while, we came to a door and I felt like we should skip a few and go down to this one door that had been calling my attention for a few minutes.   We walked over and saw it was #7...lucky number seven.   We knocked and a man opened. His name is Gennys and he is from Cuba.   He immediately told us to wait for a minute,  pulled chairs into his room and cleaned up, and let us in.   He is married and has a 3 year old boy, he doesn't drink, smoke, drink coffee, go out dancing, none of that. He is so loyal in his relationship, even though his family has been in Guatemala for two years.   He has so many questions and wants to learn so much more about the gospel so he can help his family.   Before we even offered, he asked us for any pamphlets and for the Book of Mormon and he has been reading them non-stop and writing down his questions to ask us.   He is incredible and such a gentleman and so ready for the gospel. Heavenly Father truly has prepared specific people for us here.

I love this work so much.   It is worth everything you have to give up - especially your heart.    You get so much more back in return.  I want to give everything to my Savior- including my will.  I hope you all do as well.

"Obedience brings blessings, but obedience with exactness brings miracles."   You will see miracles as you put your will in harmony with that of God.   He has the best plan anyways.

I love you all,

Hermana Miller :)

Hermana Miller: Week 17: Menudo & the Naked Veteran

2/10/14

This week has had too much in it to even begin to explain in the short time I have. This may be a list letter!

1.) This week we had 32 lessons! A little short of our goal but we worked our little behinds off! There were a lot of hard emotional situations this week, and as missionaries it really hurts to see your brothers and sisters hurting, so my heart has been a little sad. There was one specifically really tough day where all of our appointments cancelled and people were treating us really pretty bad and I just ended up crying at a less-active member's house that we were trying to serve. The elders were serving there too, and let me tell you, Grand Island has the greatest elders in the entire NOM mission I think. Earlier this week we came home two find two cute little goldfish for us on our doorstep (named Nacho and Steven,) just to make us smile! (We had to give them away though, haha.) And then the really hard day, we came home and the elders had left us two cartons of ice cream, Sesame Street spoons for each of us (I am Cookie monster, Hermana P is big Bird, and Sister B was Elmo,) and both of them had bought each one of us sweet cards and had written us long and encouraging notes and found specific scriptures for us. I definitely bawled. On Sunday, our other elders came in the morning, swept and scraped our car, and then started it for us so it would be warm. They are all such blessings.

2.) I started a 40 Day fast this week! That means that for 40 days I will be abstaining from ANYTHING that distracts me from being a consecrated missionary. I have a lot of work to do, but I can feel the Lord strengthening me and I can already see a big difference in myself. Can't wait to see day 40! I encourage you to do this in your lives-find something to sacrifice that is keeping you from being closer to the Lord!

3.) Tried Menudo this week. It tastes like doo-doo and I hate it. But we were eating with members so I had to pretend I liked it and eat the whole bowl. If you don't know what it is, look it up.

4.) While we were at the Veteran's Home this week, an older gentleman decided to relieve himself about ten feet away from me in the living room area. Never thought I would see an old man bum on my mission. Twice. Yes, he did it a second time. Surprise.

5.) Hermana Pocock and I had the honor of speaking in sacrament this week, and my topic was love. (How timely, with el Dia de Amor y Amistad coming up!) I truly adored this topic, and it strengthened my testimony so much. As I studied how much our Heavenly Father loves us, I started to realize why it is the first point we share as missionaries; it is EVERYTHING. All that God has ever done, does now, and ever will do is because He LOVES US PERFECTLY. That's so incredible! He created the world, bodies, families, this gospel, commandments, families, and more than anything else, He sent us a Savior. In the greatest act of love of all time, He sent His Beloved Son to live, suffer, and die for us-His other oh-so-imperfect children. And our Brother, Jesus Christ, loved us and His Father enough to do it. Wow. As I think about that my heart swells and fills with love and gratitude...it feels like there is too much for my little heart to hold. Everything that we have is an evidence of His love-especially the commandments! They know how painful it was to suffer for those sins, and they want us to avoid that same pain! And they want us to return to them! I love the story of the Prodigal Son, it illustrates this perfect and unfailing love and desire to live with us with such poignancy.

"And he arose, and came to his father. But when he was yet a great way off, his father saw him, and had compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him."

We are still yet a great way off from being worthy of living with our Father again, yet, because He loves us, He offers us this sacrifice, and it is never too late to return. He is always waiting with arms wide open. When I think about all the love my Father has, it makes me want to be a better daughter. It makes me want to serve Him with all I have and be exactly obedient, not just for 18 months but for eternity. I love the story of Jacob and Rachel, because of this verse:

"And Jacob served seven years for Rachel; and they seemed unto him but a few days, for the love he had to her."

As I come to understand the love of our Lord and Savior, I am growing an even greater desire to serve Him and His children, my brothers and sisters, tirelessly. I love them so much. I hope you all focus on the perfect and pure love of Christ, charity, this Valentine's Day. That's true love, and it is an eternal love story.

I love you all!  Happy Valentine's day!

All my heart,

Hermana Miller

Hermana Miller: Week 16: I'm an OREO Now!!!

2/3/14

Sooo guess who is now in a tri-panionship?!   This girl!   That's right, Hermana Pocock and I have decided to adopt a baby.    A little 21 year old English Speaking Sister Missionary baby! Haha!    One of the English sisters in our area had to go home due to illness, so sweet Sister Beers is now our third companion!     We are having so much fun!   (And stress! Haha!)    We call ourselves an "oreo."     Two Spanish-speaking cookies on the outside and a sweet gringo cream in the center.     Jajajajaja!     We now have double the work-we do all the English and Spanish Sister work!    But we are trusting the Lord and His plan and working our butts off. (We are shooting for 38 lessons this week. Pray for us!)

Heavenly Father answered one of our prayers in a really weird way through this -  we now are the proud owners of a full-time car!   Since we don't have to share with the English sisters, we now get it every day!    What a miracle and blessing!   We keep being blessed.

Another massive blessing of being in this companionship is that I am becoming a pretty decent translator  -  it's really testing my Spanish!  The Lord is truly blessing me with the gift of tongues.  I sincerely feel like what my setting apart told me, that my tongue "would be loosed" is truly coming true.   Am I fluent?  Not even close.   But I am so comfortable speaking Spanish now.  When we speak English I honestly miss Spanish.   And my English is garbage anyways now, it's all Spanglish.  It is such a blessing to be learning this language and having the opportunity to improve it so much more through translation.   I really feel that when you have to switch back and forth between the two it makes you learn it better, faster, and in a more functional way.   

Another huge blessing is that we all get along and that we are all learning so much from one another.   We each have special gifts and talents that we use to strengthen our lessons and each other.   Sister Beers is an incredible listener and asks such inspired questions!   Hermana Pocock has a gift to discern how people are feeling and thinking, and always addresses concerns so wisely.  And I love to be bold and loving and testify and invite to baptism every chance I can!   We feed off of each other so well and we are all learning to develop these other traits more too!   I am very grateful that Sister Beers will be with us at least until the end of the transfer!  (The end of this month.   I can't believe it is February!)

We had an amazing experience this week with a woman named Kathy. The sisters had dropped her off a Book of Mormon a few weeks ago,  (She was a member referral,) and so we wanted to go back with Sister Beers and follow up.  This woman is about fifty years old, has investigated every church, and was a preacher.  Well we asked if she had read anything and she said she was halfway through.  We thought she meant the Restoration packet. No...THIS WOMAN IS STARTING INTO 3 NEPHI. SAY WHAT?!?!?!   That just doesn't happen. We asked if she thought it was true and she said yes.   We asked if she thought Joseph Smith was a prophet and she said yes.   We asked if she thought the Church was true and she said yes.   We asked if she would be baptized and she said YES!   That's legitimately how it went! Easiest lesson ever!   We have been very blessed to set quite a few baptismal dates lately -the work is truly spreading here.   

I don't have favorites, but one of our dearest investigators is Jose.  He is 24 and the wisest, most spiritual person I have ever met.   He needs to be a missionary NOW.   I really could see him being a General Authority one day! He has been reading quite a bit in the Book of Mormon and came to church yesterday.   He and his sister have baptismal dates for the 22nd of this month.   I love them!

When people read the Book of Mormon, they progress.   It is the key to everything.   My goal in life is to never skip a day.   If we sincerely search it every day, I can promise that we will be faithful and continue to grow closer to our Heavenly Father each day.   You can't help but to read that book and feel something.   I cannot deny the testimony that I have of it.   I KNOW the Book of Mormon is true.   I KNOW Joseph Smith was a prophet of God.   I KNOW the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is the restored gospel of Christ.   And I KNOW that Jesus Christ is my Savior and God is our loving Heavenly Father.   Everything builds and grows from the Book of Mormon.

I love you all!   Be good!   Read the BOM!

Love, Hermana Miller  :)

Hermana Miller: Week 15: Aye Aye Aye Hate Nebraska Weather!

1/27/14

What a WEEK. CRAZY.  Just ridiculous. Nebraska goes from like 50 degrees to like 5. AND IT IS SO WINDY. Yuck. Oh well, good thing I love the work! This week was a good week, but a learning week for sure! The Lord truly is stretching me, growing me, and testing my patience. I am grateful He loves me enough to do that. First I will tell you some things that happened!

-We finally got to start volunteering at the Grand Island Veteran's Home! Oh my goodness, I love it so much. We will be spending most of our time in the Anderson unit, which is for the members who are farther along in their illnesses, or have problems like Alzheimers. I love them so much. Everyone knows that I have never been a compassionate person, and that I struggle to love people, but I can't even tell you how my heart feels when I am there. We just get to sit and talk with them, and we will start doing a little church service soon as well. (With a Lutheran minister, we will let you know how that goes.) I have already become dear friends with a few of them- Joe, who made prosthetics for Indian chiefs back in the day (he told us that three times so it must be important,) Jeff, who has ridden across the country on a motorcycle (and was upset he didn't win enough in bingo to buy a new one so he could escape,) Clark (who has had the most interesting life EVER,) and Gerald (who is convinced there is a government conspiracy to keep him from being a State Marshall.) I sincerely love them all and I love hearing the stories these people have, and the things they have done with their lives! It makes me think about the kind of legacy I will leave behind. I can't wait to go back.

-Keyla and Alfy got BAPTIZED!!! We really were worried things were not going to go through with Keyla, because we got a text two days before the baptism from her mom telling us that her dad did not want her to get baptized. Well, we went over and had an amazing lesson that the Spirit taught us all about God's love and how He truly is our Father and wants to give us good things, and his heart was softened. He is now an investigator of ours as well.  Better than the baptism though was her confirmation. The blessing she received from a member in our ward was the most beautiful thing I have ever heard. I bawled the entire time. He promised her that she would be a light, example, and influence for good in her home, and also in the mission field. He promised she would play a hand in bringing many, many souls into the gospel as she serves as a full-time missionary in the future! I cried so hard with joy and gratitude and love! In my missionary setting apart with President Crane, I was promised that I would be able to baptize influential people. Keyla is one of them. I love her so much. She is my other little sister! I am so proud of her.

-I got to go on exchanges last night with the English sisters because one of them was sick, but they had an appointment with my beloved KONG FAMILY! So I got to go see them! Oh holy day! They opened the door and all the little girls screamed "SISTER MILLER!!!" and ran and gave me huge hugs! I almost started crying! And then "Mama Gouny" (That's what she likes that I call her,) came out and hugged me and kissed my cheek and told me "Where have you been?! You are not leaving. You are sleeping here and staying here for forever!" My heart almost exploded. The 8th grade girl, Tanisha, kept calling my family her family, because we are basically like sisters. I have never met a more loving group in my whole life. They love God and others so much it is incredible. They are inspirations and examples to me. I am constantly being hugged and kissed on the cheek and things like that at the Kong house. These are people I will never forget. They are rooted in my heart forever.

I had other things I wanted to talk about, but I will just write them in a letter or something since I don't have time. I love you all, but more than that I love the Lord. I can't believe He loves me enough to not only give me this opportunity and these people, but His dear son. I always want to serve Him with all I have.

Be good and pray sincerely!

Todo mi amor,

Hermanita Miller :)

Hermana Miller: Week 14: Nebraskans are Interesting!

1/21/2014

Hermanas Miller & Pocock

Hey there everyone! What a blur of a week. Seriously, I am struggling to remember what happened! I'll tell you one thing that happened though-we were at a lesson with some members, and their little 5 year old was not feeling very good, and I hear her cry "moooommy" and my mommy instincts went "Oh no. This kid is going to lose her lunch." I turned around just in time to watch her throw up EVERYWHERE. SWEET. You all know how much I love vomit. Not at all. And you also know I am a germaphobe, and almost right after she threw up, complete with left-overs on her shirt, she came over and hugged me and was blowing in my face and stuff. I could have died. Oh my gosh.

Well, on Sunday I started getting pretty sick, and we were at a Cuban family's house. Here is something I am learning out here. NEVER TELL A HISPANIC YOU ARE SICK. Oh my lands, they made my drink and entire glass of lime juice and salt and baking soda, and then cut up a bunch of slimy aloe for me to eat. (Which I narrowly avoided.) If I wasn't sick before, I was after I had to down that "mad scientist" experiment. I thought I was going to have to pay to get their carpets cleaned, for realsies. So we headed home after that lesson and I was dead to the world from six that night til about six thirty the next morning. But maybe it worked because I didn't throw up, so it beats me. Just something funny I thought you might enjoy!
But I am feeling a bit better from all the sicknesses, that medicine is helping I think. I still can't hear very well and cough, but it's manageable.

Secondly, we have been so protected this week. We have been having to walk around a lot at night, and Grand Island is not a very well-lit town; especially in all the poor parts we tend to be in doing the Spanish work. (Trailer parks, alleyways, that sort of thing.) I cannot count how many times this week Heavenly Father has rescued us from scary men. So many times cars have followed us, or men have made lewd and suggestive comments, or things like that. God truly is on our side. I always think about that picture of dad and uncle Brian and Zack around grandma and imagine Grandpa and my future sons and some angels around us protecting us too. We always pray to be safe, and no matter what happens, we always are. Heavenly Father is so good to us, I can't thank Him enough.

I don't have much time, but I wanted to let you know we are having a double BAPTISM on Saturday! FINALLY! Keyla, the little nine year old daughter of what used to be a less-active family, and Alfy, a member's son! Hallelujah! I am so excited I could cry. Whooohoooo! Pray that all will go through. I really want to encourage everyone to be accountable for seeking out the "lost sheep" this week. It is our duty as members. One of our member families is really struggling, and Hermana Pocock and I felt prompted to go to their house when we didn't see them at church. So we missed an hour of church because we went, got their kids all ready for church, and helped the sister get ready too. She and her husband are having serious problems, and I sincerely believe if she had not had someone show up for her and cared, she never would have come back to the church again. Please, please, please, take notice and care for those around you. Never rest on your laurels, because we are "only in the service of our God" when we serve others, and we are always in debt to Him.

Read Mosiah 2:15-24,34. This has become one of my favorite scriptures. We are accountable to the Lord for what we do with the opportunities He gives us, including people to save. Do your best. I love you!

Love, Hermanita Miller :)

Alyssa FINALLY sent some pictures in the mail!  So, here they are!

Hermana Pocock & the groom & sweet investigator they planned the wedding for a few letters prior 

&, of course, Hermana Miller

 The  cute Christmas (nearly Arbor Day!) card she made & sent to us!
HEY!  We'll take it!  It has pictures!!!

Hermanas Pocock & Miller - Frosting mustaches.... need I say more?

Hermana Miller & the Kong family that they tracted out that she has spoken of in previous letters...

With the Kong family & their cousins...

Hermana Miller: Week 13: He Never Forgets Us!

Hermana Miller:  Week 13:  He Never Forgets Us!

1/13/2014

What a week! We got transfer calls! Both Hermana Pocock and I are staying in Grand Island, which I could not be happier about. I absolutely love my sweet companion and this place. (Not actually the place but the people. I love them! Oh man...I am starting to sound like a missionary now!) Hey mom, I went to the doctor finally! I have an ear infection, a sinus infection, and bronchitis starting! But they gave me some sweet meds so I am feeling gooood!

This week has been a serious blur. Time goes so fast on the mission. I can't believe I am already coming up on three months! I am not counting down because I want to go home, I am panicking because I feel like I don't have enough time to work hard for the Lord! I seriously LOVE being a missionary. It's super hard some days, and we are always EXHAUSTED, but it is SO worth it. It feels so unfair sometimes because I just want to show my love and gratitude to Heavenly Father through working my little tush off, but He keeps blessing us so much it just doesn't seem right! This time has been irreplaceable for me. The biggest blessings I have seen is I truly can see and say that I am starting to become the woman I want to be. A woman of God. I am learning lessons now that I KNOW I will use as a wife and mother, and I couldn't be more grateful for this time. It's truly priceless. Heavenly Father is just too good to us.

Keyla, our little gal who was going to get baptized this coming Saturday, won't be getting baptized until next week now because she was sick and could not come on Sunday. Ughhh. :( Things always happen to our baptisms! But it is okay because the Lord always provides! He really and truly loves us so much! We had that baptism "tea party" for the little girls in the ward this week and it was a beautiful experience. We taught them all about baptism and the five steps of the gospel of Jesus Christ. (Faith, repentance, baptism, gift of the Holy Ghost, endure to the end.) It reminded me of my baptism and got me so excited for Brock to be baptized soon! I am so proud of him! Sometimes it is hard because we really are working SO hard every day and trying SO hard to be exactly obedient, and our baptisms and investigators have kinda been dropping or falling through recently. It's been heartbreaking, honestly. I sat and just cried one day this week when we stopped by for a first real lesson with an investigator we were really excited about (We randomly decided to stop and knock her house and found out her husband recently died in a tragic accident. The Spirit was so strong and she could not wait to have us come back and teach her more about eternal families!) because she opened the door and wouldn't even let us in because her pastor's wife said not to listen to us because we would confuse her. That was the hardest moment of my mission so far. To know that she felt the Spirit, that she is super prepared and ready for the gospel, that she needs it desperately and could be so much happier and more comforted knowing that she can have an eternal family, and watching her just reject it because of the opinion of another. I was so, so, so devastated! I just love her so much and pray for her every night that she will remember what she felt. I am going to write her a note today. So sometimes it feels like we are not making a difference; in moments like that it is easy to get discouraged. But we are truly seeing miracles and working hard. We had the highest numbers in the zone this week and I still want to push them higher every week! So we know we really are working and changing lives, it's just that sometimes Satan tries to tell us we aren't, or that we aren't good enough to be out here because of our pasts.

I had an amazing study session today that helped me truly feel the love of our Father. I started reading in 2 Nephi 26 and found this tiny little line that meant the world to me:

"all those who have dwindled in unbelief shall not be forgotten."

He never forgets any of His children! Even the ones who have forgotten Him. We all go through points in our lives when we dwindle in our faith, and yet His faith in us never dwindles. He has never doubted our goodness, He doesn't now, and He never will. His arms are always stretched open, waiting for us to run to Him for a big hug. If you continue reading in that chapter you will find these, some of the most tender verses about God's love that I have found so far:

"24 He doeth not ^aanything save it be for the benefit of the world; for he ^bloveth the world, even that he layeth down his own life that he may draw ^callmen unto him. Wherefore, he commandeth none that they shall not partake of his salvation.

 25 Behold, doth he cry unto any, saying: Depart from me? Behold, I say unto you, Nay; but he saith: ^aCome unto me all ye ^bends of the earth, ^cbuymilk and honey, without money and without price.

 26 Behold, hath he commanded any that they should ^adepart out of the synagogues, or out of the houses of worship? Behold, I say unto you, Nay.

 27 Hath he commanded any that they should not partake of his ^asalvation? Behold I say unto you, Nay; but he hath ^bgiven it free for all men; and he hath commanded his people that they should persuade all men to ^crepentance.

 28 Behold, hath the Lord commanded any that they should not partake of his goodness? Behold I say unto you, Nay; but ^aall men are privileged the one ^blike unto the other, and none are forbidden."

How incredible is His love! No matter what we have done or who we have been, He ever stands, waiting for us to return to Him. He will never deny us His love. He will never deny us forgiveness. He will never deny us the opportunity to become new and become tools in His hands. Often, I feel just like Alma the Younger when he said:

"28 Nevertheless, after wading through much tribulation, repenting nigh unto death, the Lord in mercy hath seen fit to snatch me out of an everlasting burning, and I am born of God.

 29 My soul hath been redeemed from the gall of bitterness and bonds of iniquity. I was in the darkest abyss; but now I behold the marvelous light of God. My soul was racked with eternal torment; but I am snatched, and my soul is pained no more."

I know I have been forgiven by my loving Heavenly Father. I have lived far from a perfect life, and I know I must have caused Him countless tears, because I am aware of how many I caused my earthly parents to cry. But the past is to be learned from, not lived in. We all are imperfect, and we must learn to look forward to the future, not to dwell in our yesterdays but to gloriously and confidently march into our tomorrows. I am so grateful for the perfect and empowering love of my Heavenly Father. Feeling that, I can't help but to want to be a better daughter. I love Him. With all my heart. And I am so grateful for this time to help other feel that love too. Because everyone deserves it. It is the most valuable treasure, and yet it is free.

I love you all and hope all is well. Stay safe, warm, and worthy of the Spirit. Never forget that it is never too late to return to Heavenly Father. He will never reject you.

Much love,

Hermana Miller

Hermana Miller: Week 12: Feliz Ano Nuevo!

1/6/14

Well hello, hello, hello!

First I need to apologize for sending out Christmas things to everyone late. I'm a real jerk sometimes. Haha, sorry guys. But in reality you should be glad because it just means that I am working so hard I don't have time to go to the post office so, hey! Totally a good thing, right?! Life is soooo busy. This week has been FULL of miracles. Just chuck full of them. In fact, every single day is that way!

I wish I had the time to sit and tell you all of them. Actually, I don't because that means I wouldn't be out working and that is my favorite thing to do. Sorry everyone! I will have to make up for it in a year and a half. :) I can't believe my first transfer out here is coming to a close. Time really does FLY on the mission. Hermana Pocock and I had a bit of a panic attack the other day freaking out about how little time we have left in the mission! (She has 9 months left and I have like 15...that's not enough!) We have so many high hopes and dreams for this area and these people, that we truly know will come true, that every second we have we just want to work so hard! And we want to be 100% obedient too! Something I am learning out here is obedience with exactness. As a missionary we hear this quote all the time:

"Obedience brings blessing, but obedience with EXACTNESS brings MIRACLES."

Ummmm, yes please! We can't do anything without the Spirit of the Lord. Without that power, we are useless. And we can only have it when we are being as obedient as possible-to the spirit of the law as well as the letter of it! We are seeing countless miracles every day as we are striving to be the most obedient and hard working missionaries we can be-and it always touches my heart when we see another miracle because it tells me that my effort is acceptable to the Lord and that He is proud of me. What more could I ask for? I just want to work harder and harder every day. As I have been prayerfully considering and setting goals for this new year, I have been trying to keep this in mind- what we do today should prepare us and teach so we have a greater capacity to do more tomorrow. If we do not have a purpose to work towards every day, I can promise that we will fall short of our great and divine potential. "If you want to get somewhere you have never been, you must take a path that you have never before walked." That is a thought that came to my mind the other day, and I know it is true. I once heard that the definition of the word "insanity" is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. That's so true. In contrast to that, In Hebrew, the word that means "joy" also means "eternal progression." How can we be happy if we are always staying the same? I don't want to look back tomorrow and realize I am the same person I was yesterday. I want to be better. I want to grow. And ETERNAL progression is key, too. We continue to progress in the Celestial Kingdom. I know that. I think that "hell" essentially is a state of static being, a state where you can no longer progress and change. How awful would that be? If Adam and Eve had never been cast out of the Garden of Eden, they would never have been able to learn or grow, and we would not exist. "Adam fell that men might be, and men are that they might have JOY." (Or eternal progression, since we just learned that they are interchangeable and dependent upon one another.) We must too leave our "Garden of Eden." We cannot grow in our comfort zone. It is impossible. One day we must go out into the "lone and dreary wilderness" and grow and experience both the good and the bad, and learn. And you know what? One day what once was a lone and dreary wilderness will become a comfortable Garden of Eden, and we are going to have to leave again so we can continue progressing, continue finding that joy. Change is good. Embrace it! Let God lead you where He will. He knows better than we do anyways. If there is anything I have learned out here, it is that. Trust Him, and He will make you an instrument in His hands to do miracles. I can promise you that with all my heart, as a representative of Jesus Christ.

How amazing is that?! That God, who is perfect and all-powerful, let little old me, Alyssa Marie Miller from Mead, Colorado, find, teach, and gather His oh-so-precious children. Alyssa who is scared of moths and spiders, Alyssa who has zero self-control when it comes to Reeses Peanut-Cutter cups (Thanks, Mom! Now I am gonna get more fat! Just when I was trying to start "losing myself in the work,") Alyssa who didn't even really become dedicated to the gospel until a little over a year and a half ago. If I can change and become a worthy and powerful servant for the Lord, so can anyone else in the world. If you doubt that, go read Mosiah 27. Like, right now. I love the story of Alma the Younger. If you want to know how I feel, read verses 28 and 29. So beautiful. God has never given up on you, and He never will. We all can change. We all can have eternal progression. We all can feel JOY. Live every day so that you will gain that. Serve the Lord and He will provide. Go read Mosiah 5:12-13 too. Serve Him, and He will serve you. I can't say that enough.

I love you all. Work hard every day. We owe it to Him. He will make it worth it.

Hermana Miller