"I May Not Be My Brother's Keeper, But I Am My Brother's [Sister]" Oct 5

Querida Familia y Amigos,

Este semana.

We found some pretty solid investigators, so that's cool. (: Not a lot really happened.

Friday, we had exchanges, so we exchanged Thursday night. I went to the STL's area, a YSA ward. After we prayed for planning, before we officially started planning, President called. Apparently, he'd called the other hermanas first, assuming I'd be there, then found out I wasn't. So he called, we talked a while, my heart broke, and Sister Smith and I elected to skip planning and change into our pajamas and do the girly bawling into your ice cream bit.

The next day, we only had set lessons, which is good. We talked to this guy named Kevin from Indonesia. He'd met with missionaries before (incidentally, Hermana Simental, haha), and they'd given him a Book of Mormon, which he took with him back to Indonesia, and he actually read it. (: Not all the way through, but he read it, and he said he felt lifted up when he read. (:

And all the other lessons we had that day were just as solid. I now want to serve in a Single's Ward, but somehow also stay Spanish. Hmmm...

Conference this weekend was AWESOME. It was so good. I felt the spirit a ton and learned a lot. Then we went to Cottage Meeting last night, too! It was sooooo good. (:

Sorry that I'm almost out of time, I had a ton of personal emails this week.

Love you all! Sooo much!

Hermana Miller

"Si, Utah es lleno de misioneros ratonados." Sept 29,2014

Querido familia y amigos,

This week. Wednesday, we got to teach the English class. It was so fun. The elders just asked us to do a review of what they taught last week, so we reviewed clothes, but they already knew about clothes. Then they started asking questions about spelling and pronunciation, so we explained the vowels and the circumstances when they're pronounced differently and why, and they loved it. It was so cool to see them understand.

Thursday, we went back to the church because Grosera (Hermana Guevara (: ) said she was going to meet us there to give us dinner because her kids had to come to the dance practice. Well, okay. So, there's a Regional Spanish Conference by the temple in Bellevue on October 27th that we are not allowed to go to because it is outside of the mission boundaries. Our branch and the other branches in the North West side on Washington have been asked to perform an authentic Mexican dance from Jalisco that I have forgotten the name of, but looks super cool.

So we went to the church at 5, and brought Elizabeth and George so that they could come to a lesson with us afterward. Grosera was unable to come because there was a football game or something, but Elizabeth and George danced, and I took a lot of pictures. (:

Afterwards, we went to find 'Juan.' We had been phone contacting a week before (calling the people in the phone we don't know so that we can have more people to teach), and he said we could come by and sent his address. We didn't realize until we were on our way that it was the Elder's area, and once we realized that, we decided that we would just do How to Begin Teaching, then pass him off.

So we're driving down the creepiest street ever (the street he lives on), and we're not sure which house is his, so we're looking at all the houses to see the numbers. The one we were pretty sure was his, there were people staring at us ominously from the windows. So we found a place to park, prayed, and were about to get out of the car when this guy that looked like a biker came over and asked if we were lost. We said no, that we were looking for a specific house, and we had found it, and he told us to move our car and park closer to the house because this was a really safe neighborhood and we might freak someone out.

So we move and park in front of the house, and as we're walking up to the steps, oh my goodness. It was like some horror movie. These creepy kids come out, and they greet us creepily, and one tells us that it's his birthday. Not wanting to show that we're freaked out, we offer them stickers. Seriously, these kids were creepy, but nothing on the mom. After they each take a sticker, they let us pass to the door, where the mom is waiting. She was talking in a childish, singsongy voice, and at first, we thought she was sticking thread in her mouth, but halfway through our conversation, in which she was telling us that her husband was not at home, and that we were welcome to come in, but he's the only one that would want to learn, she pulled the thread away from her mouth, and we saw that it was strung on a needle, and she'd been poking this needle into her teeth.

So we left, because 'Juan' wasn't there, and as we were leaving, it started raining really hard, and a truck pulled up next to us. It was 'Juan,' and he apologized for being late, and said that he still wanted us to come over, but another day. The rain going home was so creepy, it'd pour like crazy, then stop out of no where, then rain super hard again.

But the next day was good. We knocked on this house, and met this 11 year old and his aunt. This 11 year old just came from Mexico, and he is so prepared!! We're going back to see him again on Tuesday.

Love you all!!

Hermana Miller.

"Tu no sabes." "Si, se!" Sept 22, 2014

Querido Familia y Amigos,

I don't really think much happened this week. We did service this week down on Meadowdale Beach; we helped build the horseshoe pits. The only way to get to Meadowdale Beach is to hike down a really long and steep mountain. Which is fine, but coming back up is more difficult. Then we donated blood. That was fun.

Last night was the second Come See For Yourself Fireside. We brought Sandra. We met with her earlier this week, and she was ready to drop us. She just wants to know the truth, but it was hard for her that missionaries change so much. Which makes sense, but not in this area. Wahlstrom was here eight months, Pellegrini was here four, Martinez was here four, Maama was here six, and I've been here since June. So considering that transfers are every six weeks, this area has had it pretty easy. But we had a member with us, and he shared his testimony on all of the things she had concerns about, so she agreed to come to the CSFY.

We told her we'd be there at 6:20 with a member to take us up to Marysville (where it was this time), but we felt like we needed to be there earlier, so we told the member to meet us there at 6:15. So we get there, and Sandra's in her car, trying to call someone, but when she sees us, she puts the phone down and says she has to change before she can go, so we're like, "Awesome, go for it," and we wait in her living room, and the front door was left open. After a minute, a lady comes and knocks, asking for Sandra. We tell her that she's changing, so she goes back to Sandra's room, and we start quietly freaking out because we're afraid this woman is going to invite Sandra to go somewhere, and Sandra will decide that a Mormon fireside is not for her. But after a minute, the lady leaves, looking disappointed, and Sandra comes out.

But while she was changing, her phone, which she'd left on the counter starts saying that she'd maxed out the time she can use to leave a message, so, being nice missionaries, we delete the message when it gives that option, then we saw the that the number she had been trying to call was ours (our sound on our phone was completely off).

So she comes out, and we get in the member's car, and on the way, she told us that she had been about to call us when knocked on her door, because her friend had called her and said that she was locked out of her house and wanted to hang out with Sandra until her hubby got home; but because we were already there, she felt bad cancelling on us.

We get to the church, and the first person I see is Alyssa Carey. I love that girl. (: But I always get so thrown off when I see her, haha. It's like she's from another life, and she shouldn't be there. (:

Anyway, the fireside was AWESOME. The spirit was so strong as these recent converts shared their testimonies and the videos were shown about how God is our loving Heavenly Father. Sandra was tearing up the whole time, and afterwards, she asked us if she had to know everything to be baptized. "Porque si, tengo que, nunca voy a poder."

It was so cool. We told her that no, she didn't have to know everything, but there were a few basics she would have to know, and we bore our testimonies briefly about God's love for us and the Plan of Salvation, and she's going to call us today to let us know her schedule for the week (because it changes every Monday) so we can stop by and share more. (:

Mmmm... There are three greenies in my district. Hermana Gonzalez is from California, but her parents are Mexican, Elder Paepke is from South Jordan, and Elder Bigelow... Well, I don't know where he's from, because he just got here Saturday night. He just started his mission, he was called to Mexico, but the climate or something was killing him, so he got sent here.

No creo que tengo mas.

Les amo mucho!

Hermana Miller

Why do I always forget? Sept 15, 2014

                                                      1. We got lost, but Everett is pretty. (:

                                                    2. I luv my mama, and I luv Hermana Maama. (:

                             3. Space Needle and 12th Man Seattle Seahawks = WalMart in Washington

Cheetalicious Sept 15, 2014

Querida Familia y Amigos,

This week was interesting.

First of all, sorry I didn't send an email last week. I ran out of time.

I survived transfers, but Maama did not. She is in Mount Vernon now. I am still in Everett, but now I'm with Hermana Simental. She is from Nebraska, and was called English, but she's fluent in Spanish, and we're lacking hermanas, so she was brought over.

Well, so, last Sunday, not yesterday, an investigator was going to come to church. For real. He'd called us the night before, and told us he wanted to come and that he knew the church was going to help a lot, then he got arrested later that night for drunk driving and driving without a license. He got out late Sunday night, and we had an intense drop talk with him, and he told us that even though he hadn't yet kept any commitments, he really was interested.

Cottage Meeting is a fireside held in the mission president's home once a month, and recent converts share their testimonies. It's really cool. So, this same investigator, we'll call him Jose and his brother Juan. So, we'd dropped 'Juan' a while ago when it became clear he was more interested in us that in the gospel. But 'Jose', he's really shy, and we were sure that he really did want to change his life. So we invited Jose to Cottage Meeting, and he said 'Juan' wanted to go to. So we were going to meet them in front of a fruit tienda and ride down together in a members car. We waited for them like 15 minutes, and we were like, "For real? They don't live that far away." So we finally decided to just go pick them up at their apartment. We pull into the parking lot, and see two cop cars in front of his apartment, and the cops talking with 'Juan's downstairs neighbor. We were freaked out, but told ourselves that 'Jose' y 'Juan' were probably just hiding inside (because who knows if they're legal; not only people from Mexico come here illegally). So we go and knock on their door. The cops leave, and the neighbors are like, "Oh, look. Now they're knocking on their door."

So what happened is that they were both drunk, 'Jose' y 'Juan,' and they'd been driving around the parking lot, freaking out about their flat tire, and they hit the neighbor's car. The neighbor got ticked, and so they got in a fight. The cops were called, and 'Jose' y 'Juan' took off running. When we arrived, the cops were still looking for our investigators.

So we got back in the member's car, and she still wanted to go to Cottage Meeting. So we went to a few other investigators houses, no one was available. So we called a former, and he was willing to go. He freaked out Simental and the member, because he's a major cholo. Simental was afraid the whole time that he was going to steal something from the Bonham's house.

So, that was interesting. And that's all I have this week. Love you all!

Hermana Miller

                               The Legality of Marijuana in Washington

  

I Always forget the pictures Sept 2,2014

Falling Can Be Dangerous

                                                    Whidbey Island

Fairy? Faerie? No, ferry

Can you put my mustache in the fork drawer, please?, Sept 2nd 2014

Querida Familia y Amigos,

Oh my gosh. This week. Demasiado cosas.

Last Monday we found out that Hermana Maama's aunt died. She and her aunt were like best friends, so that was really hard for her. I didn't even know half the day, she was calling our STL's and the other hermanas in our district, and President. That was really duro. President told me that I need to give her space, but keep her busy. I don't know. It's really hard, because sometimes we're doing really well, we're all friends, then she's off telling somebody else about her sadness. I wish I knew how to help her.

We had emergency exchanges last week, because Maama needed some Poly Time. I love the Polynesian culture, how they're all super close with all of their family. That's really cool.

We've started doing Personal Progress with Elizabeth, the recent convert from California. That's really fun. We feel like it's really important for Elizabeth to finish her Personal Progress before she turns 18 and moves back to California by herself so that she has that firm foundation in Christ, her own testimony. She has one, claro, as she was the first in her family to be baptized, but we want her foundation to be firmer. (: She's doing awesome.

Our district leader was training this transfer, but now his trainee has gone home. ): He'll hopefully be back out when he's feeling better, but man. Everybody loved Elder Hoeft. He was so cool. We didn't even know he was having problems. ): Keep him in your prayers, if you wouldn't mind. He was a solid missionary, he was picking up the language and everything.

We went hiking as our broken district yesterday (Hoeft went home yesterday morning). We went over to Deception Pass with our Branch Mission Leader, Austin. He's legit. We took the ferry back, where we saw our STL's and their English district. That was pretty cool.

Then we had like no time to go shopping. We got back to the apartment at 5:55, we hurried and put the cold stuff away, changed into proselyting clothes, and were half an hour late to our appointment. Oops. But her husband was home, and said she'd been out all day, so it's not too big of a deal. Then we went to our next appointment. They weren't home either. So we tracted in their area, as it was 6:45ish and out next appointment was at 8. As we were tracting, we saw some people moving in, so we offered to help, and proceeded to carry furniture and boxes up three flights of stairs for an hour. It was hard work, but we felt sooo good afterwards. We're super weak and tired today, but we weren't feeling that yesterday. (:

So we went to our appointment at 8, and she told us that she was busy. Yep. That's our life. But then we went and had a Family Home Evening with some members that were just right there, so that's all good.

Well, love you lots! Keep on keeping on! The Lord has a plan, and there's nothing that can tear it down!

Hermana Miller

P.S. Exchanges are next week. We'll see what happens. :S

                                        I always forget the pictures. 

                                   

                                                              Having lunch in La Conner.

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