Happiness, Rejoicing, and General Conference

Hello family and friends!! Hopefully you had a wonderful week! Things were peachy here in Coalinga. Although I must admit, April Fools is still not that amusing of a holiday to me. 

Back-to-back exchanges this week in Fresno and then in Coalinga. I am really glad that I serve in a little town. It feels so much homier to me, and I feel like I know how to do the work better in the little obscure places than in the big cities. 

While in Hanford for meetings and exchange drop-off and pick-up we were able to visit with Artie for a few minutes as we waited and used her restroom. It was a tender mercy to me to be there. As she confessed that she hadn't been to church and then I asked her why she began crying and told me she had been sick for the last month and she couldn't make it through the meetings anymore due to some of her symptoms. I was able to convince her and then help her use her phone to call and schedule an appointment with her doctor. We then called the Elders and had them come over to give her a blessing. It was such a blessing for me to be able to love and serve Artie again even just for those few moments. She is so humble and faithful and devoted... I am truly grateful for the influence she is on my life. 

Seriously this is the best story. So on April 1st we got a text saying that Amber and Vince were cancelling their scheduled wedding on the 19th due to family pressures to wait and Vince feeling rushed. Sister Johnson wanted to text back and ask if it was an April Fool's Joke. We didn't and it wasn't. It was so sad because they are the best couple/family and are so ready to be baptized, and all they need is to get married to be living the law of chastity. We continued to work with them and had a lesson but things were looking bleak. Well then of course this is where the MIRACLE comes in (right after all we could do). We went by to visit them a few days later and they were coming back from getting MARRIED!! ah I LOVE IT!!! They had just gone down to the court house and got married. I told Amber that my soul was full of bubbles and hearts in that moment haha. Seriously so happy... words don't begin to cover it. 

Another great moment came this week while teaching Ramiro, Myra, and their family. When talking about families and the family the proclamation to the world we showed them a picture of the Salt Lake Temple and Deona one of their daughters says I want to be married there! It was a huge turning point for her from complete disinterest and apathy to now she is interested in the discussions and wants to be baptized!! Temples and eternal families are the BEST!! 

I have started a project to read through the whole Book of Mormon again in English before I go home. This time I am looking for all references to happiness and joy and rejoicing. Already I have learned so much from approaching my studies this way. Two verses I particularly liked were 1 Nephi 16:32 "And it came to pass that I did return to our tents, bearing the beasts which I had slain; and now when they beheld that I had obtained food , how great was their joy! " and 17: 6 "And it came to pass that we did pitch our tents by the seashore;and notwithstanding we had suffered many ^aafflictions and much difficulty, yea, even so much that we cannot write them all, we were exceedingly rejoiced when we came to the seashore; and we called the place Bountiful, because of its much fruit.". I just felt like I could relate so well to the scriptures as I read those verses haha. 

More normal missionary craziness this week with some strongly atheist people trying to deter me from my faith and another teen smoking in my face trying to convince me that as a "mormon" that I believe in receiving 40 virgins to repopulate my own planet someday. Sometimes I really wonder where people come up with this stuff. 

General Conference was AMAZING though!!! I went through my notes and pulled out two talks from each session that I just wanted to briefly mention what I learned:

From Saturday Morning (which we were able to watch with Amber and Vince) in Elder Holland's talk I remembered that it truly is worth it to live righteously and do the things we do, because the other option is desolation. Desolation versus all the blessings God has planned for me? No contest! Then Elder Eyring gave the quote of the prophets and it applies perfectly to doing the Lord's work and the attitude you have to have "Oh, it'll work out". I don't know how many times daily I have to tell myself this as I remember that God knows what He is doing and He will make it work! 

From Saturday Afternoon Brother W. Zwick's was probably one of my all time favorite talks about communication! Healthy communication requires empathy and listening. Elder Cook brought out my family history bug and it is so true that we have an OBLIGATION to our families roots and branches. Remember, "The Prisoner shall go free!". 

From Sunday Morning Elder Uchtdorf spoke of developing an attitude of gratitude and how a thankful heart is the parent of ALL virtues. Yet he perfectly understood and captured the truth that no one is immune from life's fabric ripping at the seams. I especially loved his line that endings are NOT my destiny! Then I also loved Jean Stevens' idea that the gospel is not weights but wings! 

From Sunday Afternoon Brother W. Walker taught me to live up to the legacy of the pioneer giants whose heritage of faith and sacrifice I stand on. Brother Aidukaitis' great advice that, "one should NOT roam through garbage" is ALWAYS true.   

But the best conference miracle came when Ramiro came up to me after the Sunday Morning Session and asked how they become members of this church? I was more than happy to inform him that baptism was his answer. 

Just Sister Johnson and I during the Sat Afternoon Session
watching on the TV in the Relief Society Room by our lone-somes... 

Things are great and I am doing well. The work is moving along and growing everyday! 

Love YOU!!! 

Love,

Hermana Miller 

P.S. Pictures of Brother White and us out at Harris Ranch enjoying our steak dinners. And of Ramiro and Myra and Stefani at the Sunday Gen. Conf. Luncheon we had thanks to the Winslow Family. 

His Vision is Bigger and Better

Family and Friends!! Oh how I love and miss you all. 

It has been a good week here in California. 

One of my favorite moment while teaching was Ricardo asking us how to hep his seven year old son Damien pray. (I thought that was natural instinct that all Father's were programmed to know that... apparently not but he picked it up pretty quick). 

All My Companions & I

I got to go on another exchange with Sister Sorensen = happiness! Although I was super stressed out about our whole day being in Spanish appointments. BUT the gift of tongues is totally real. I was able to communicate and understand every single person. Even old Manuel (the grandpa with the cowboy hats who looks to Sister Johnson to translate normally). It was a miracle I tell you! I can't do that every day, but in the lessons and do or die moments I always have been blessed with the strength and ability to do the things I have been asked to do by the Lord.

Sister's Conference this week was fabulous!! I took more notes than ever and just felt it was perfect timing and what I needed  to hear. We talked about the process vs the product and how you have to enjoy the process or the product doesn't matter. Do things that motivate and inspire you and your product will always turn out. I also was blessed with some personal experiences while there that were just so touching. Sister Olson a Senior Sister came up to me and gave me a hug and privately told me that she and Sister Ball (another Senior Sister) have been praying for me personally for 7 months. When I saw her 7 months ago I would have never thought she would still even remember me... how wrong I was. I hadn't seen her in the last seven months yet here they have been praying for me every single day. Talk about feeling some serious unrestrained love. That is the type of love we can only get from Christlike people loving the way that Christ does. Also while at Sister's Conference based on a conversation with a prior companion I found out a major reason that I had been in a certain area months ago. That area was a struggle for me in all Spanish, and so often I felt like I was worthless there unable to contribute and communicate. But after talking with this sister I know that I was there at least in part for her. My experience and examples, unrelated to the work we were doing, helped her to initiate the repentance process in her life (totally unbeknownst to me until this point). It has been literally months since I served there or with her, and yet I know that I was a crucial part in a major change in her life. How grateful I am for those glimpses into moments of successful endurance and seeing some of Heavenly Father's reasoning for things. 

Driving home from that conference was a little bit of a stressful night... It was late (past curfew), we were in Fresno an hour and a half away from Coalinga, I was on exchange with a Sister from another area who wanted to drive but hasn't for over a year, we had no GPS or map, I didn't know the way back to Coalinga, and then we get right to the part of the trip where there is no more civilization and it is all farms and THEN the gas light comes on in the car we had just got traded that day during the conference. I don't think I have ever prayed so hard to just make it to a gas station, and a shell has never looked so good with Gas at $4 a gallon. hahaha. But Heavenly Father always looks out for his children and we made it home safely. Lesson? Don't stress... it works out how it is supposed to anyhow!

Zone Trip

Another great moment of this week came in sacrament meeting when one of the youth bore his testimony and quoted part of a conversation he had with President Gelwix at the Hanford Stake Priesthood Meeting this week. President told the young man he was lucky to have to hard working sister missionaries in his ward and asked what he thought about it. The youth responded that we (Sister Johnson and I) are legends. Then President told him it was because of our faith. I thought it was a great moment. haha (Although I do rather like to be the behind the scenes type of person instead of in the spotlight, but the fact that he used the word legend was just too funny). 

Finished reading the Pearl of Great Price this week!! Yay. I have now made it through all of the standard works on my mission! 

General Sherman

Trip to the Sequoias this morning! Pretty awesome. There was snow there, but I got to see General Sherman (that HUGE redwood tree... the biggest tree on Earth). And we hiked around a little before getting pizza for lunch. Good preparation day. 

LOVE YOU!!! 

Love,

Hermana Miller 

Squeezing Sunshine from Every Moment

There is just so much goodness this week I don't even know where to start! 

This morning we were able to go over to a swap meet in Hanford and it was awesome.... street fair collides with garage sale on steroids. Who would of thought that such a place could bring such happiness, but it did. We even ran into the local Hanford missionaries there! Meaning I got to pal around with Sister Sorensen for a little while :). 

This week was our Zone Conference and car inspections. Well let's just say that the little corolla doesn't do so well in Coalinga anyhow, and then driving it all the way to Porterville there wasn't a chance of us winning! I think the frustrating part was there is NO car wash her in town so we had to wax it all by hand and really that just attracted all the pollen to it worse than normal. Either way it was fine though we didn't lose miles over it. While we were there the Porterville 3rd ward provided us lunch and so that meant that I got to see Sister Christensen (the 1st member I ever lived with on my mission)!! I hadn't seen her since I got transferred out of Porterville almost a year ago at the very start of my mission! It was the best! She asked me if I had been a leader. I said no. She then said well then surely you've trained. Again I said no. She stood half-embracing me with a grip on both of my arms looking me straight in the eyes and asked if I was ok with this. I surprised myself when I answered her that I really was ok with it. Before and at the start of my mission I was so sure that I would train that I would be a leader, especially with the huge influx of sisters after the age change and just how everything was working out time wise... but those aren't positions that the Lord has asked me to fill here. And really I am ok with that. I feel that I have done what He wants me to and that is enough. I feel that not having those positions has allowed me to focus on the work, members, and my investigators. It also has helped me to stay or become humble, because it never is about me or my status. Truly the Lord always knows just what each of us needs to grow and progress. So that reflection was a tender mercy to me this week. 

The day after Zone Conference Sister Johnson and I were on fire! We were so pumped and we had a great day with 13 quality lessons. We just were going going going and everyone was at home and it was fantastic. The rest of the week was a lot more difficult trying to catch our investigators at home, but it was still pretty good. 

Service this week included more ceiling scraping for one member and moving some investigators in our skirts. We had already told this couple we would help them move if they let us know when. Well then we were driving to go see another family when we saw the wife getting in the SUV. So we stopped to talk with her and asked again when they were moving. She said right now; follow us! We did. Then they had us pray over their home with them and all their other non-member friends before a single box was moved in! It was awesome. Next thing you know we were hauling couches in our church clothes haha. (I guess after all the times missionaries have helped us move it was only fair that my turn came around on this side sometime haha). 

We were able to teach the Youth Sunday School class again yesterday and Young Womens. It went really well in both classes we felt. The young men had even brought a friend from school with them! So we reviewed the Plan of Salvation with them and answered his questions. 

I am really doing well. There are still hard days and rough moments where I get homesick or things don't work out, but I am really happy. Lots of laughs, letters, and poppy pink nail-polish set the world aright. (Of course with the help of prayer and scripture study... haha). 

Love,

Hermana Miller

Like a Bee Sting

It was a trying week for us here in Coalinga. We have "taken all the low hanging fruit" by baptizing all the part member nine year-old children here and now it is tougher but we are still going strong. Since neither of us were transferred we had a lot of time in our area, uninterrupted by making the hour trek to Hanford for meetings or exchanges this week. It was a blessing but also difficult. We did a lot of harvesting blessings, street contracts, and prayers. It worked though! We found some really amazing families to teach and got 13 new investigators and had 36 quality lessons. With all that being said there are some people and experiences that I want to share with you. 

Jessie: A 21 year old less active in the ward. Problems with smoking marijuana and the law of chastity which she is very open about. We hadn't met her in the last six weeks somehow, which is odd because we know essentially every member on the list. Anyhow we had dinner with her family this week and I felt like I could really connect with her. She is a good person at heart, she just doesn't have any vision for herself or her life... she just goes wherever the waves will take her. Well she mentioned wanting to serve a mission. We set up a time to take her out teaching two days later. She came with us and when our appointment fell through we knocked on doors with her. Once we knocked on the first door she ran away to hide. (It was a perfect moment capturing the emotions I feel inside almost every time we knock on a strangers door haha.) After that she got a little more comfortable and actually was testifying without promptings from us by the time we were done! She even asked to go out with us again, and so the next day we took her out again to teach  a family we had found knocking with her the 1st time. She has made HUGE improvements in less than a weeks time. Jessie told us when we picked her up the second time that she had stopped texting the boy she was having problems with, and that she had given up smoking!! When we checked on her a few days later at church she was still going strong!! 

Juan and Jackie: A couple the Elders had taught once when we got transferred in. We met Juan our very first night in Coalinga but then they were never there for our appointments and so we stopped teaching them. Well, this week we were out in Huron trying to contact less actives and we were driving up and down this tiny little street looking for a house. We passed this rather large scary looking gangster type man probably four times (and of course waved awkwardly but laughing each time). Finally we realize that it is probably his house that we are looking for. We pull over and climb out of the car when the man says that he knows us. It was Juan! He invited us to come over and have a lesson that night with him and his girlfriend! So we did and it was great. [Juan was at his parents and the less active we were looking for lived next door]. 

Vince and Amber: I've probably wrote about them before. Basically they are AWESOME! I love them so much. Now that they are over the German Measles and all that craziness and Jared the son's birthday has passed we were finally able to meet with them again. We helped them decide a wedding date and scheduled it with the Bishop over the phone during the lesson. It was really a quite hilarious moment to watch this tough marine get so nervous/anxious about his upcoming wedding while she was totally at ease. haha I love it. So April 19th will be the day they tie the knot! And then one year from then off to the temple!! Vince is all the way through Heleman in his Book of  Mormon reading so they are doing really well! My favorite quote of the week also came from Jared during this lesson. I asked Amber and Vince why they thought God would command us to keep the Sabbath-day holy? Jared the 5 year old pipes up from the other room and says," Maybe, because He is smart like me!" hahaha

Melonie and Steve: This by far is the most emotional and spiritual miracle part of the week for me. I wrote it down in a journal on the 15th and so this next part is going to be a selection of what I've written... "We really are the sum total of our experiences. Everything we do and see leads us to more moments where we take and apply all of our knowledge. I feel this is especially true right now as a full-time missionary and representative of Jesus Christ. So often I struggle with and question the Lord's timing. I want to jump forward and expect that then is where happiness will be waiting, but it isn't so. It's always been about the journey and not the end destination. If only we could savor and treasure every learning and growing opportunity we have here in life... think how much happier we'd be. Well, I feel that meeting Melonie has helped me to do that more in my life; savor every moment that I'm granted. As I reflect back on my journey to here and now I realize how crucial the Lord's timing really is. If I'd left on my mission right when I turned 21 I wouldn't be here now, I'd be at home. Not to mention I would've missed those months of preparation and time with my siblings who are now on their own unique life trajectories. But anyhow I want to share the story of meeting Melonie because I truly feel that knowing her has and will continue to change my life. Four days ago was about as normal as any missionary Tuesday can be. We (Sis Johnson and I) were out tracting most of the day. finding new people to teach is one of my least favorite missionary activities. Talking with people I don't know is still a daunting task, and yet it must be done especially when you don't have many people you are teaching. We'd had our only set appointment (one to do service) fall through, and as a result were knocking on doors and offering to say prayers with people. We'd prayed with drunken men on the corner and tried all of our referrals. It wasn't a horrible day by any means, but by the same token it was NOT my "cup of tea" either (or as Sis Johnson would say my idea of "good clean FUN"). I even was lucky enough to get stung by a Bee that afternoon. Feeling rather sorry for myself I kept going "gutting through it". We had dinner with some members and then taught lessons to some recent converts. But the whole day (and my whole outlook on life) was changed when we met Melonie. Late in the afternoon early evening time frame we'd tried to visit a less active member who wasn't home, and then a referral for the neighbor who lived next door who was also not at home. I was walking back to the car with frustration and slight discouragement when Sister Johnson points out to me a family on the other side of the street we should go talk to. I hadn't even noticed them, but as we walked closer I was sure they wouldn't be interested in our message. The man was laboring intensely tearing up the solid dirt surface (that would be a yard) with only a shovel and elbow-grease. The woman sat smoking a cigarette on the front stoop in an immodest tank-top. Three young children ran around the yard kicking a ball, swinging a shovel, and just being loud rowdy children. As we approach them I tell Sister Johnson to NOT walk on the yard that looks freshly raked. In her usual cheery manner she bubbly replies that she "wouldn't dream of it". We begin to talk with the woman who kindly tells us she is Catholic but accepts our invitation to pray with her. There was more small talk and getting to know her, all the while I am thinking to myself that this will be like the other 100 doors and we'll pray and leave and that will be it. But when we ask her if there anything she would like us to specifically include in the prayer the tone changes. She tells her 8 year old daughter Miracle to go stand by her dad on the far side of the yard and then come back. She looks at us and tells us that she had just found out that day that she has brain cancer. We assure her that we'll include that in the prayer and testify that families can be together forever. She hadn't even told her children yet. In that instant I felt the position of the world shift. I felt a heavy burden to pray sincerely for this family without disclosing the sad news to her children. I desperately wanted to instantly transmit the peace and love that only a testimony in Jesus Christ and Heavenly Father can give. Acting as a voice to that prayer I invoked the blessings of Heaven upon them for their righteous actions and testified again of the eternal nature of families. I don't remember the words I used or all the specific things included, but I KNOW the Holy Ghost came and rested upon us in those moments. It was beautiful. Then Melonie had questions she and Miracle had been discussing previously about Adam and Eve. So we were able to teach them a little more about the creation. Then Sister Johnson and I introduced the Book of Mormon and read some verses about the Stripling Warriors (Alma 58:46-48). Sister Johnson connected it to raising our children and then invited them to come to church on Sunday. They accepted. We then set a return appointment for Thursday evening and marked Alma chapter 7 for them to read. Waving happily we climb into our car and drive away. Once in the grey corolla Sis Johnson and I simply look at one another. I sat replaying the whole scenario in my head. I couldn't fathom what had just happened. I felt so grateful for my life, for my health, for my family. Sister Johnson and I began to disagree over the life expectancy of Melonie. I thought she had told us one week to her next birthday and Sister Johnson thought one year to the birthday after the one a week away. Either way it didn't matter, because the outcome would be the same. Yet in our young naive minds this was a point worthy of debate; not considering the facts that three children will soon be motherless, their father without his beloved companion, or how we were currently in the position to give comfort to someone preparing to exit this phase of life. I won't say I had enough clarity for all of that to really sink in just moments later, because I didn't. What I did realize however was that I'd just witnessed and been a key actor in one of Heavenly Father's miracles. It only makes sense that god would send two of his missionaries to one of his children in need at the very pinnacle moment of their despair. Thinking about it now it seems surreal. Of course Steve as the overloaded husband and father would be venting all of his emotions (which I can't begin to imagine) through physical labor. Of course Melonie would be contemplating life as she attempted to cope with the news through worldly solace and temporal substances. Of course their children would be unaware, innocent of all the world's bleakness, playing laughing and fighting just as any other day. Of course a loving and all knowing Heavenly Father would guide us there to that very home at that very precise moment. Of Course...."    I am sorry that took a while to type and so I don't have time to write all of the story but Melonie and her family are a very special part of my mission. I will forever be grateful for this opportunity I have had to meet them. She has taught me so much about true faith and courage. We are still meeting with them and she has a baptismal date in April. Please keep them in your prayers. 

I love you all so much!! Have a great week!! 

Love,

Hermana Miller 

P.S. pictures with the Aguayo Family at dinner and cleaning the car for inspections! 

  

Role Plays Really Do Help...

Hello Family and Friends!

It has been another good week here in Coalinga. We got our transfer calls Saturday night and Sister Johnson and I will be staying together in Coalinga! I am really happy about that. We have some good things going on here. One of those being a new investigator out in Huron. We contacted a media referral and for the 1st time on my whole mission it wasn't a joke or faulty address! Miguel is great and even though he had been given the Book of Mormon 3 years ago he is finally starting to read it! He feels that we were sent into his life at this time for a reason and he wants to prepare himself to be ready to take the next step and be baptized! YAY! 

We also started working more with the youth here this week. One of the young men set up an appointment for us to teach two of his friends from school at his house. It was awesome! We are so excited to go back and teach them again tonight for FHE! The hilarious moment of the week though was when we set him up to testify perfectly by asking what was one thing he had learned from the Book of Mormon he said, "That being a missionary is hard.... Did I just make this awkward?" hahahaha. It was so funny. But the Spirit totally covered us and it was still a great lesson where the girls asked us some fantastic questions. Plus that experience gave us the idea that we needed to Role Play with the youth here so that they will know how to share their testimonies when those opportunities present themselves.  So we went and taught the youth Sunday school class yesterday. (Yes, it is that small that ALL the youth ages 12-18 are in there together). We just had them practice testifying to their friends of one thing and then inviting them to do something. I think it was a great experience for them. Each of them said they felt more prepared afterwards. 

Sister Johnson & I with our gift necklaces

We also were able to do a lot more service this week from scrapping popcorn off of a ceiling to helping a blind widow buy groceries. There really is nothing that compares to service. I love it so much. You can talk about the gospel but it isn't stiff and awkward, and people just genuinely need the help so they will let you come over. It almost makes me wish I served in the days where you had to have so many hours of service each week haha.  

Random quote of the week: "I may be the black sheep of my family, but even the white ones get a little dirty sometimes." Haha

Much Love,

Hermana Miller 

This is the Scenery

Cloudy Day in Coalinga

Pictures in Coalinga

With Sister Trumbly

Haley and Kirsten's Baptism

We totally found this thing in the apartment to make fake snow! It was awesome. I can just see a missionary mom from Utah sending that to her son in July in Coalinga! 

Pictures in Coalinga at the Museum, The "Sistrect", & Cowboy hats

More Pictures of Coalinga!

Horny toad Marshall Wall at Coalinga Museum

District Meeting (Lemoore District)
Elder Wain and Wright Hermanas Gneiting Guzy Miller and Johnson

Sister Johnson and I at church

Knocking,Baptizing, and Laughing

Hello Family and Friends!!

It's been yet another busy week here in Coalinga! Last Monday for preparation day we went to the Coalinga Museum. It was rather hilarious. We took a few good pictures to send home with the random artifacts. Oh Coalinga and their Horny Toad Races.... 

This week we also got lasered at through a peephole. Haha. We knocked on this door and they turn the front porch light on but don't answer so we knock again. Next thing you know there is this little red light (like from a laser pointer) shining out the peephole at us. It was so strange that we were just cracking up laughing and the people never opened their door. [Maybe this is one of those you had to have been there stories? haha]

Little Sara was a character this week in our lessons. She had somehow got it mixed up and was calling Satan "Mason" and it was pretty funny. Then when we were reviewing her baptismal interview questions and mentioned praying morning and night she stops us, "wait wait wait... you're telling me I have to pray morning and night?" I was like yes everyday when you wake up and before bed. And she goes, "Oh I didn't know that! I thought it was just at night... thank you for telling me!!". hahaha I love children and their eagerness to learn. At the very end when we asked her if she was ready to be baptized she said, "I was BORN ready!" 

I gave a training this week on kneeling prayer in district meeting. It was really powerful to me to see how well Heavenly Father truly knows each one of us and what we are struggling with; that He then gives us the opportunity to study it out and apply it more thoroughly in our lives. I really enjoyed reading the entirety of the Joseph Smith History again as I prepared for the training. Even though I explain that story on a daily basis here as a missionary, it was completely different to really study it for myself again from the perspective of kneeling prayer. It is incredible that every part of the restored gospel was given in answer to a sincere question asked through a knelt prayer. And really even the Savior knelt in prayer when He preformed the Atonement, the most incredible and loving act of all history. I still have a lot of work to do to make my prayers effective and sincere at the level I want them to be. 

We were blessed with more rain this week! It kind of makes you feel like a real missionary to have to go out and fight the elements I think. It gives me a greater appreciation for all of the wonderful things that I do have (like the car). 

I learned that R.U.S's from the movie "Princessbride" are REAL!!! Hahaha there is a hunter in our ward and he has a mounted Javalina at his house. They look like the Rodents of Unusual Size and they are legitimately classified as a rodent in the world.... pretty awesome. 

I finished reading James E. Talmage's Jesus the Christ this week. That was really a wonderful read and I feel like it helped me connect a lot of little dots to know my Savior better. 

Funny of the Week was when I was calling and left a voice-mail for one of the members and as I go to hang up instead of saying goodbye I say "in the name of..." haha it was so awkward but there was no way to erase it or make it not weird so I just laughed and said goodbye and hung-up. But I felt like that was a good indicator of my status as missionary haha. 

Two baptisms this week!! Damien and Sara were both baptized! I love them and they are awesome. They are so solid and really love the Lord. I have grown as we have taught them and I have felt their faith strengthen my testimony.

Somehow last minute we ended up teaching the Spanish Sunday School again this week. But instead of a nice lesson from the gospel principles manual they wanted us to teach from the Old Testament Pamphlet about the Abrahamic Covenant.... awesome. None of the people there even knew what it was, and neither Sister Johnson or I had our Spanish scriptures there. I don't think I could have even taught it in English well, but somehow we plowed through it and I think it was ok haha. 

D&C 25:13 "Wherefore, lift up thy heart and rejoice , and cleave unto the covenants which thou hast made."

Love you!! Have a great week!! 

Love,

Hermana Miller