Oscar! You're Gross! (Singsongy) Feb 26,2014

Hombre. This week was so short.

I don't even know what to say. Liliana is at the hospital right now, having a baby. That's animada. Pilar's father passed away. That's triste. She went back to Mexico to be with her mom for a while.

Oh! We were tracting yesterday on our way home for dinner, and we contacted this man on the side of the road. We told him that we were missionaries, that we share messages about Jesus Christ, you know, the basics, and he said we could stop by, blah blah blah. The funny part? He turns to me after all that, and says, "Que parte de Mexico es usted?" (What part of Mexico are you from?)

Hermana Andersen and I are both tall white girls with blonde hair and intense blue eyes. So when he asked ME, when my Spanish is pretty good, but not as good as Hermana Andersen's, we just wanted to laugh. I said, "Fui en el heffe," (I was in Mexico City) because that's not a lie. It was sooo funny, though. (:

The bikes aren't as bad anymore. We'd still rather have a car, but we're to the point where we have to go somewhere? We'll take our bikes or try to get a member ride, and not think twice about it.

I don't really know what else to say. I got my first letter not from Grandpa or Great Aunt Sally this week! It was from Jacob Guymon (err, Elder Guymon)! I was soo happy! And there was a sock monkey sticker on the back. It was super cool.

I've been informed that some of you have been sending me letters, but I haven't gotten them. Make sure when you send them, you're not sending them to Alpine, Utah, but rather to this address:

Hermana Karolina Miller

Washington Everett Mission

P.O. Box 13390

Mill Creek, Washington

98082

Gracias! Muchas amor!

Hermana Millbert

(Shhhhh. It's fine.)

Oh! This is the other cosa I was going to tell you! It was sooo funny. At church yesterday, Hermana Martinez (another missionary, but yes, she's from Mexico. She actually went to the Benemerito before it was the CCM), Hermana Andersen, and I were waiting outside the bathroom for Hermana Pellegrini, Hermana Martinez' companion, and Hermana Del Angel, who's is the Relief Society Presidency came over. She kissed Hermana Andersen on the cheek (well, it's not really kissing on the cheek. It's brushing your cheeks and making a kissing noise), then Hermana Martinez, shook my hand, then kissed Hermana Pellegrini on the cheek, as she had just barely come out of the bathroom. After she walked away, we all laughed, like, "What was that about?" In this culture, it's normal to kiss hermanas on the cheek, and no to shake hands. I didn't initiate the shaking on the hands, I was prepared to kiss her on the cheek. I haven't done anything to her, so that was really funny.

And after church, we were getting into a member's car, because they were giving us a ride home, and Hermana Maribel pulled up next to us. Hermana Andersen was already in the car, so I went over to talk to her, and she was like, (translated into English, of course) "Where's Hermana Andersen?" "In the car, we're heading home now. Is there anything we can help you with." "No. Can you tell Hermana Andersen she can stop by later?"

Hahahaha! I have no idea what is going on, but it is sooo funny. (: I hope you enjoyed those stories.

Blue/Azul Feb 18, 2014

Querido Familia y Amigos,

Wow.Yesterday and last P-Day were the worst days of my life. After emailing last P-Day, we went to Fred Meyer's to get our groceries, and the AP's called and told us we might be getting bikes. Like Sarah, Abraham's wife, when she heard that she would bear a child in her old age, we laughed. There was no way they could be serious; we're the SPANISH sisters. Plus, our furthest away investigators are 25 minutes driving.

Then, we went to the mall, and found out the Disney store would be closing February 18th. That's today. That was really hard to deal with.

Then, Diana texted us, and informed us that she was done. She dropped us for real this time. There's no getting her back until she's ready. ):

So that was terrible. Martes, durante transfers, neither of us got transferred, but we did have to go to the mission office to drop off our car. The Spanish Sisters in Lynnwood really are on bikes. But we didn't get our bikes until Miercoles.

Friday/Viernes, tuvemos una cena con un hermana de Guatemala, pero esta esta muy enferma, y fuimos a su casa, y ella dice que no podemos entrar porque de su enfermedad. Entonces, montemos nuestras bicicletas y fuimos a nuestra casa en el lluve. Pues, tratemos.

Or, in English, we had a dinner with a Sister from Guatemala, but she was sick. And she didn't tell us until we got to her house, a 45 minute bike ride. So we tried to go home for cena, pero it was raining. And she lives up this really big hill.

Oh, also, my bike's handlebars were loose, and we didn't know. So we tried to stop at this stop sign, and, with my frozen fingers, and reached for the brakes, but the whole handlebar flipped. I did my best to not run into Hermana Andersen, and I landed in the road. I had managed to dismount, mostly, and I had stepped hard on my left foot and landed on my right knee. I have thirteen bruises on my legs, but I didn't even care about the pain right then. I was so flustered because I was wearing my favorite tights, and now, there was a huge whole in the knee.

But a member was driving past! I know, who knew there were members in Washington! Hahaha, just kidding. But a member stopped, corrected my handlebars, and told us where the nearest church building was, telling us there were Elders there, and they could fix my bike.

So, because of that, the members in our branch have been telling us that they're going to go to President Bonham and demand he give us our car back. Aye aye aye. Yes, it's not the funnest thing to be riding a bike, but there's a car shortage in the mission because Salt Lake has been taking the cars for other missions, so there's not a lot anyone can do.

But other than that, everyday, I love being a missionary more and more. Today, we stopped by the house of an investigator we've only met once, and her 10 year old son was there. Because he's over 8, and his mom was cool with it, we're teaching him, too. We started the Restauracion and he was just eating it up! He was so excited when we said they could have their own Book of Mormons.

I love this work. I love the people. I love that I can teach a lesson and know everything that I want to say, practically. There are still moments when I forget a word, but it doesn't happen as much anymore. We have exchanges on Thursday with the YSA sisters, and though I'm excited, I'm a little concerned about what that will do to my Spanish, as we've been told that I'm not the one staying here. But it's only for one day, and it'll be a great experience. Everyday, my testimony grows stronger, though teaching, through my personal studies (which I wish were longer than an hour), through just living the missionary life. I know that the reason my Spanish has progressed so much in such a short amount of time is because I'm learning to depend more on the Lord, and the reason I'm learning Spanish is to best help His children that need this glad message in their lives, so He is more than willing to help me learn this language.

Also, this week, I learned that there is a promise from a General Authority, that if you will read the Book of Mormon all the way through in another language, you will be fluent in that language. I invite you all to try reading the Book of Mormon in Spanish, you can pick one up at the local Deseret Bookstore, either online or right there on Main Street, for just a few dollars. I know that when we read the Book of Mormon, no matter what language it's in, we can grow closer to our Heavenly Father. I know that the Book of Mormon is the word of God, and, like Jose Smith said, it's the most correct of any book on earth. Yo se que esta cosas son verdadera. Yo se que nuestro Padre Celestial nos ama, y que esta iglesia, en realidad, tiene el plentidud del evangelio de Jesucristo. Y digo estas cosas en el nombre de Jesucristo. Amen.

Les queremos!

Hermana Miller

I Hope The Zombies Eat You For Breakfast! (Or... Let's Not Be Reckless? Feb 12, 2014

Wow. This week was soooo short. Probably because I slept most of the time. I'm sure you've heard that missionaries don't get to take naps. Well, that's a falsity. We nap all the time.

...

Just kidding. I was sick this week, so, with the permission of Sister Bonham, the mish president's wife, I slept during non-proselyting hours this week. Entonces, hoy, sentio muy mejor. Yeah yeah yeah.

But we still did work this week. We dropped some people, we got some new investigators, we skipped church yesterday, we had a MACR with Mari, we did tons of service, it SNOWED, we knocked some doors, in an attempt to open a screen door, we realized it wasn't a screen door and got a weird look from a dog within the house, we taught an AWESOME restoration lesson yesterday and I remembered the whole First Vision is Spanish.

You're probably wondering why we skipped church yesterday. We wanted to go, we really did. But we got a text from the presidente de la rama (branch president) ayer, y el dijo que no fue iglesia ayer porque de la nieve. ): We did really want to go, though. Snow is a blessing and a curse, especially yesterday. I can't believe church was cancelled because of snow. Imagine that happening in Utah. It snows enough to stick, and the obispo calls you and says church is cancelled. You'd laugh at him and go anyway, right?

Oh! Hermana Andersen got proposed to yesterday! We were all sitting there at dinner with the Mari's familia, and Samuel turned to her and said, "Are you married?" she laughed and said no. Hermana Frandsen (Mari's sister) said, "Remember, Samuel; missionaries can't be married." and he was like, "Oh, yeah." I said, "Were you asking?" to which all the adults laughed. Michael, Samuel's older brother and in second grade, asked me to explain what I meant, then Samuel was like, "Well, I'm in love with her. I want to marry her," to which Michael dijo, "Then tell her."

So Samuel turned to Hermana Andersen, who's attention was back on Mari's story about Spain, and said, "Excuse me, Hermana Andersen. Excuse me. I want to marry you. Will you marry me?"

Everyone laughed, except Hermana Andersen (she is so solid!) (well, and Mari. This was an English conversation, she only Spanishes)! Hermana Andersen said, "I'll only marry a return missionary. Are you planning on serving a mission?"

She is so good at making people feel important, like they matter, and not only that, they matter to her. She cares about people's feelings, and she didn't want to crush this little boys dreams, as chistoso as they were. She is so great, and I am so blessed to have her as my companion.

And transfers are tomorrow! Hopefully, I get to stay with her again. The chances of me staying with her here are really high, because she's my trainer, and there are 12 weeks of training, and 6 weeks in a transfer, but last transfer, she was training someone else, so no se.

Also, she was super awesome this week while I was sick. She doesn't like the whole trainer-mom trainee-daughter deal, but she's such a mom. She was always like, "Here, drink this." and I was always like, "Is it the poison with frankincense in it?" and she was like, "Yes. but essential oils are good for you. Drink it," and making me text Hermana Bonham and then sleep, and cosas como eso.

She's great.

Happy Valentines Day on Friday! We're so excited. We're going to wear as much pink as we can.... So... I have a pink undershirt and pink heart socks.... But we'll make it work! :D

Oh! And we're planning a El Sueno de Lehi actividad. It's going to be so cooool. Yeah yeah yeah.

#goseagulls #cuzweremormon #andimfromutah #ihatehashtags #buenasnoches Feb,3 2017

Querido Familia and Amigos,

Wow. All I've been hearing about the past FOREVER is that Seattle Seahawks, and though we didn't watch the Super Bowl, we knew IMMEDIATELY when it was over and who won. It's like we were the only people in Washington that didn't watch the game (well, except for all the other missionaries). It's like everyone's friends now. And everyone's wearing Seahawks related clothing today, whether just the colors or actually the logo, EVERYONE is wearing it.

It's actually pretty cool. I'm not that into football, but it's nice the it's brought this community together. And 43 to 8? (that's just what I heard it was). Wow, the Hawks dominated!

How were the commercials? Be sure to tell me about your favorite ones! I was a little triste I could watch the commercials.

Umm... Oh! We met an amazing potential this week. His name is Saul (como Sah-ool), and we taught the Plan of Salvation to him in ten minutes on his doorstep (his mom wasn't home), and we were like, "Do you have any questions?" and he was like, "Yeah. How can I learn more?" so then we like victory danced in our minds, and said, "We can teach you more! When can we come back?"

We set a day. He wasn't there. We kept stopping by everyday until his brother was like, "I'm sorry if Saul gave you the wrong impression, but he's not interested." And we were sooooo triste!! And that just happened to be the WORST day on my mish thus far! Our best investigator had dropped us, all of our lessons fell through, and every door we knocked, we were rejected before we could even say anything. We were so triste.

But the next day was mejor. We stopped by Diana's house, asked her why she wanted to drop us, told her that she was progressing, she was on her way, and she needed to pray and see what God wanted. Then we got new investigators, and had great lessons, and it was so great.

And yesterday, we stopped by to see Diana, to see if she prayed, and if she felt like she needed to continue, and she was like, "Yeah, pero no tengo tiempo ahora. Pueden pasar en Martes?" So we're going back tomorrow!! :DD

So yeah. This week was super hard, but super good. I feel so blessed that I have to opportunity to be out here, to share my testimony with the people here, and that I'm to the point where I can share my testimony in Spanish with almost no hesitation. I love this Gospel. I love this language. I love this people. I love everything about this work, even the hard things, even when I don't love them in the moment. The only thing that could make it better would be if I got letters. If you want to send me some, remember to send them to this address:

Hermana Karolina Miller

Washington Everett Mission

P.O. Box 13390

Mill Creek, Washington

98082

I love you so much! Thank you for the time you spend reading these really weird emails! Les quiero!

P.S. Super awesome cosa. This morning, during personal study, the phone went off. We were like, "We're studying! Who's texting us? Everyone knows missionaries study between 8 and 9!" because we love personal study so much (I do, at least. It's one of my favorite things in the whole world). And the text said, "Hey, this is Cesar. We met a couple weeks ago when I was painting my house. I don't know if you remember me, but you left me your card. I'm going through a really hard time right now, so I thought I might listen to your message. When can we meet?"

So then we were like, "WHAT?? Oh my goodness! Aduksrogngirsdo! (just like that, yes)" Then we were like, "Wait... I don't remember anyone painting their house?" so we realized it was when we had exchanges, Hermana Andersen was with Hermana Pellegrini in Everett, and they came across this man. But he actually lives in Elder Woody and Elder Jones' area. But it's still super exciting. Usually, when you leave a tarjeta, people just throw it away like, "Why do I need Christ in my life? Pshhhh." So this was super exciting. It was worth missing out on fifteen minutes of personal study for screams of excitement, prayers of thanks, and dances of victory.

El fin. (: