Girl : chick flicks :: missionary : The District

This week was transfers! My new companion is Sister Eldredge, from Spanish Fork. She went to the same high school as Danielle Esplin... small world. She is fabulous, and we are just going to rock it this transfer. So far, we've laughed loads, worked hard, and we are aiming for this transfer.
Weird fact: this is the first time I've been the older missionary in the companionship. It was always nice to delude myself into thinking I was young.
No more. Old. So very very old. You should see us hobble around when we wake up in the morning. We look like we are 80 and need hip replacements. haha.

We have short emailing time this week....the library is closed so we are sharing the computer at the chapel.

But my Easter was so good. :) I pulled a classic Miranda though. I had totally forgotten we had been asked to teach a Primary class until about an hour before church started. I was praying that there would not be any 4-7 year olds there, that they would have all gone to see their nans.
False.
Everyone else came to our ward to see their nans. We ended up with a class so full they didn't all fit in the class room. As we started singing the opening hymn, one girl just sat on the floor and started crying. I was really tempted to join her.
But guess what. We had a twenty minute lesson, they all participated, answered questions, had fun and it was so good. And then we all made Easter cards for our Mums.
The cool thing though was seeing that, as a missionary, I have learned to teach the gospel simply and use effective questions. I taught them the gospel the same way I would the investigators. I loved that.


This week: beautiful weather, beautiful conversations, everything. There have been so many moments that I developed charity for seemingly random people on the street.
And then I remember that they are  brothers and sisters. There is nothing random about that. So please remember that as you meet people this week. Remember that when the missionaries bring new (or old) faces to church. These people are precious. We have promised to serve them. So each of us need to step out of our comfort zone and make them welcome.

Have a good week!


Sister Miller

Pic: Cardiff Bay. Most beautiful one in the world. I just love this city. Friday was Sister E's birthday so we came and rode the carousel (during lunch break). So happy.

Happy Easter!

Okay. Here is the deal. Time is precious.

If you only have two minutes, please skip reading my letter today.

Instead, go watch the video on this page:

www.mormon.org/BecauseofHim



No seriously.

You all may have seen it a thousand times, but some of us don’t currently have access to social media and so just barely found it and fell in love with it.

Just blow it up big screen and love it.



Anyway. It’s the week of Easter! I am so excited. This is one of the best weeks of the year. This time last year, OT came to an Easter Concert that touched him so deeply he let us teach him the restored gospel. I can hardly wait to see what precious things this year will hold.


And so in light of Easter, I just want to share a story from a few weeks ago that seems to fit the theme of it.

We were walking home for the night, and there was a man reading the menu just outside of a restaurant. My companion stopped him, and we just started chatting.
He told us that he lives in Bethlehem. He is in the <1% minority of Christians from there, and he was in Cardiff on a business trip. He has toured the BYU Jerusalem Centre, and asked what exactly it was that made our church different. Well, good question, Sami.

Somehow we started talking about the temple, and he was so touched. He's been to Jerusalem countless times--he understands how important that is/was. We showed him the picture in the restoration pamphlet about the restoration of the priesthood. (I love using pictures in a GQ. We all listen so much better with a visual.)

He took the picture in his hands and just quietly stared at it. And then he looked at us so intently. He was silent for what seemed like ages.

“How can I know?”

This is the sweetest question of all time to answer.

I wish I was good enough with words to convey how precious this scene was. Here I am, an American girl holding a book and testifying that Christ came to the ancient Americas. I’m showing him a picture of the resurrected Christ and the Nephites coming unto Him. Here is a man who walks daily on the streets where the Messiah was born. He has a testimony of his Saviour. We are standing in the middle of a dimly lit street in Cardiff, simply testifying. And he could feel the Spirit. My comp just testified so powerfully, and he knew.

I wish could have a picture of that moment. I’ll probably never see Sami again. But that experience just touched me so deeply. It’s probably one of my favourite moments from my mission.

I couldn’t even give him a copy of the Book of Mormon because of how controlled the customs regulations are for him. But we gave him a resto leaflet (which he will have to get rid of before he gets to customs). He asked if he went to the Jerusalem Centre if there would be someone who could tell him more.

It was a once in a lifetime experience that I have thanked my Heavenly Father for letting me witness.

I love moments like this; irreplaceable and precious. They teach me that God is aware of us. That He has designed His plan to let us grow, and that the message that we share blesses us.

I love Easter. Our message is that He LIVES!
And I love testifying of that.

xxx


Sister Miller

Conference!

Heya, Family!

Guess what I did this weekend. I watched conference! Man, each time I watch conference I just get a confirmation that we truly are led by modern day prophets and apostles. What a privilege.

Didn’t you just love the talks? There were some that just spoke so personally to me, and were literally what I needed that day. You cannot tell me there is not modern-day revelation.

And this week was so good. We taught so many new people this week.

One’s name is Beulah. She’s from India. Basically, she is the sweetest woman alive. We taught her for the first time Tuesday night. When we pulled out the Book of Mormon, she said: “Oh! I know that book! Last night I was googling life after death and read about that book. Can you tell me more about it?”
The Spirit was just SO strong. She readily accepted an invitation to be baptized and is so excited for the Book of Mormon.
When we taught her the Plan of Salvation in our next lesson, she wasn’t as accepting. Which surprised us. But we invited her to pray to know the truth of what we had taught. And the session of conference she attended was PERFECT for her and for her concerns. Afterwards she said that she just felt so light and good inside.
Oh I love that woman.


And we also taught a man named Gareth. Our mission president gave us some amazing training last week. He suggested that when we kneel for the closing prayer of a lesson with an investigator, we first offer a personal prayer, just as we would if we were praying on our own, and invite them to follow our example. That way they speak from the heart rather than merely trying to imitate our prayers.
I did that, and then we invited Gareth to pray. He did. I just about started crying. Which shouldn't surprise you. Sister Waterworks, over here. The Spirit was there so strongly. He thanked Heavenly Father for letting us meet him, and said that what we taught made him feel valuable for the first time in a long time. And then he just poured out his heart.
 It was beautiful. One of my favourite things about my mission is hearing people pray for the first time. Hearing the shy faith move towards greater confidence is just so powerful. I love being a missionary. I love it with my whole heart.

I cannot wait to finish listening to conference. I love you! Have a fabulous week.


Sister Miller

Pics: Millenium stadium. Not the best pic, but I haven’t taken too many pics recently, so you’ll just have to live with this one. =D