Virginia what???

Hola todos!! Crazy enough I made it here to Virginia!! The last few days in the MTC were wild and sad and exciting but I'm stoked to be here now! We traveled on Wednesday morning and I got to revisit my favorite place, the North Campus UVX Station and the Frontrunner! So awesome. One thing I noticed in all our travels is that people really are like magnitized to our tags! So so so many people stopped me to talk either because they wanted to share their mission experience or because they were confused about what we were doing. Before even getting on the plan I was having missionary conversations left and right it was so exciting! I'm really grateful for the opportunity to be a representative of Jesus Christ!

It was so cool to get here on Wednesday and as Iwere landing we saw all the monuments!! What!! We got picked up and headed to the Marine Corps Monument or Iwo Jima Monument! That statue is huge people!! So cool! Got a little bit of the vision for our mission and learned more about our mission leaders! Then we stayed a hotel which was fun ahah. 

My trainer is awesome!! Her name is Hermana Morales and this is her third transfer! She is a fluent Spanish speaker and is so patient with me and my Spanish! I am learning so much!

 
Right now I'm serving in the Patomic area so we're right along the river! Super cool! AND right now in this area there is an invasive bug specific I don't even know how to explain them they're big and like red and fly and are EVERYWHERE it is genuinley shocking but I love to continue my abatement days and get rid of them when I can.

We met lots of new friends this week and I'm really excited because every missionary gets to go to the temple this transfer, BUT we also get to go next Saturday with a woman who was recently baptized and I'm so so excited! The Washington D.C. South Mission is being blessed with about a million Facebook Referalls everyday. As Spanish sisters we receive almost 10 everyday and they are so awesome! Lots of them are interested in the Church or the Book of Mormon or just coming to English classes that the church provides! Regardless, we get to talk to SO many people who are really prepared to learn and live the gospel! Yesterday one of our Facebook referalls who came to English class on Friday was able to come to church with his son and it was so special! 

One of the highlights of this week was we met this really nice woman named Liz and she told us she really isn't interested in the Church but she thinks that missionary work is so cool! She is an artist and told us she had a picture for us and WHAT ITS A PAINTING OF THE DC TEMPLE THAT SHE DID??? It was so nice I was literally beaming she was so cool.

 
Missionary work is really different than I expected. Nothing really prepares you for the experience of being somewhere totally new and constantly being surrounded by people that you can't really understand or communicate with. I'm starting to have a greater understanding of why God called me Spanish speaking and I think the #1 reason is because I need to be massivley humbled lol. Talking and communicating with people individually or in group settings has always been a strongsuite for me and I'm so humbled because I truly can't communicate by myself. #2 I'm learning how to be a better listener! When you can't really speak you have so much time to listen!! Hopefully I'm getting better at that and can keep working on it! 

Overall- things are good. Big changes are happening and my emotions are honestly a huge roller coaster, but I remind myself that I've done lots of hard things before, and I can do this because of Christ.

As we reflected as a mission on the life and service of President Nelson Irealized one of my favorite things about him is the effort he made and time he took to get to know people of other faiths and cultures around the world. He showed the Character of CHrist as he got to know people as individuals and showed genuine interest and respect for people who were different than him! The Savior invites us all to do the same thing! Where I'm at in Virginia is really diverse and I'm meeting people from every point of life and place on Earth, and it is a good reminder to me to be conscious, respectful AND CURIOUS of other people's beliefs and interests! I know we recieve blessings and greater joy when we show genuine kindness!! Especially when it is hard! 

God's got you!! I love you all! Please keep me posted! 

Hermana Miller

pics! 

lol forgot it's been so long but I chopped my hair in the MTC so yeah theres that 1. My comp and I @ the Marina where we do calls! 2. Iwo Jima! So cool! 3. Last view of Utah mountains for a while 4. LIZ AND OUR PAINTINGS 5. my little bob with Hermana Kaelin and her little bob! 6. Tried my raincoat love it 7. last district flick

One Month?

Hola!!
Great week here at the MTC! Believe it or not next Wednesday I'll be flying to Washington D.C! It's so crazy that this is my last week here but also kind of feel like I've lived here my whole life so I'm not really sure ahah but I'm stoked to get out there! 

This week was quick and had tons of spiritual moments! 

Last Thursday I hit one month as a missionary! Super crazy! We had a little party and Hermana Miles' lovely mother sent us so much food and we grubbed and watched some Book of Mormon videos before we went to bed! It was so fun! Shoutout Makayla and my parents for sending some treats. You guys are phenomenal. 

We started SYL this week so everything we say has to be in Spanish no matter where we are so in our rooms, in the lunchroom everywhere which is rough ahah. All of our district got their re-assignments which was pretty exciting! We'll be all over the U.S!

This week we had a really really good devotional by Elder and Sister Brown of the seventy! They talked with so much passion and authenticity and it was so moving. He talked about the parable of the talents in Matthew but how those can represent some different things as a missionary! Our purpose, testimony, passion, voice, etc. etc! He talked about how Jesus Christ is the perfect example of not burying our talents! One of my favorite things that he said was how every opportunity, calling, assignment we get is an opportunity to create TRUST with our maker!! So inspiring! He talked about how sin can make us want to hide but that the perfect place to hide is in the covers of the Atonement!! I love that!! I know that Jesus Christ loves us and when we come to him we will find forgiveness and peace! 

Gods got you! He loves you!! I love the gospel! 

Hermana Miller

pics! 

!Esta Bien!

Another week here at the MTC! 

We taught an HOA in Spanish on Saturday and it was super difficult but it was still good! I understood more than I was expecting so that was good but speaking is still a weak spot for me. 

This week I've been finding a lot of answers in the scriptures! The mission has pointed out a lot of my flaws and weaknesses in my character which is always humbling ahah but it's good!! I'm learning to rely more on Jesus Christ to help me to comfort those in need of comfort and mourn with those who mourn. I'm so grateful that the Atonement is ENABLING because that is so what I need right now!!

Highlight of the week tho was probably when I got an insane pen stain out of an elders shirt and it was one of my proudest moments I got it out so well I was so impressed. I'll attach a photo don't even worry. 

Besides that just doing the usual! Trying to learn Spanish one day at a time! Went to the Payson Temple today super exciting! Had an amazing devotional from Elder Peter Johnson he is so awesome. 

I love Jesus Christ! I love being a missionary! I love you guys!!

Hermana Miller 

PS my fellow cougs please let me know how lacrosse tryouts go and what is going on and all that good stuff

Normalize it!

Hola!!! 

SUCH a great week this week!!! I'll say it I am LOVING the MTC! it's so fun and there's so many people to talk to I just love it so much! My district is so good I could go all day I love them they're so incredible so fun so spiritual it's just all so good! Theres another spanish district of Elders that we spend time with and they are so awesome as well! I learn so much from each of them! Also shout out to my parents for some delicious cookies they sent this week!

This week we played a lot a lot of sand volleyball and spikeball which was super super fun! I love when we get to go outside.

We got some new Sisters in our branch last Wednesday and they are so awesome I love them dearly and we get SEVEN more today!! I'm so excited to meet them! It was kind of strange that all the English missionaries that got here the same day as me left on Tuesday, but I'm honestly stoked to be here longer! 

And honestly I need to be here longer because Hermana Miles and I taught two lessons this week to a stranger and we did not perform ahaha. The first one was bad and then we met with the same brother the next day and it was slightly better but still bad. Hermana Miles had a legit coughing attack and I started laughing out loud (that has actually become a serious problem here if I feel even a small tickle of a laugh coming on I truly can't stop it even if we're doing something spiritual it's actually a big issue I'm praying for help because I need to chill) but yeah we left feeling a little defeated but not to fret!! We have to teach a 15 minute lesson to a friend in pure Spanish on Saturday so it is truly trial by fire! I'm nervous ahaha but luckily the Spirit and Love of God is a universal language and im banking on that!! Also have to shoutout my absolute legend of a comp Hermana Miles she is so fabulous!

Speaking of Spanish we started full immersion last week!! Its been super fun and im feeling gods help everyday! A lot of stuff I learned in high-school is really coming back to me which is shocking and awesome! We have a three hour Spanish class and then a one hour Spanish tutoring class and then another three hour Spanish class and we're not allowed to speak English in any of those. I'm learning tons! It helps a lot that one of our teachers speaks fluent Spanish as her first language and is currently trying to learn English, but sometimes it's hard because we can't communicate super well if we don't understand. 

Last night we has a really good devotional from Elder and Sister Larreal of the Seventy. I said the opening prayer so we got to sit on the stage which was pretty exciting and a little spooky. I think it went fine. The choir sang an amazing musical number that was a huge blessing. 

Ok if you know me well you know how much this means to me! We do service in the other sisters residence halls every Tuesday morning (this day is ideal because most missionaries leave Tuesday or wednesday) and they have tables of free stuff that sisters are leaving and I am always BLESSED by those tables!! You know I love anything free but they genuinely always provide for me. We've started calling those tables my “manna from heaven” because anything I need somehow appears on those tables available to me!!! God is so aware!! This week's haul was so immaculate. 

This week was full of spiritual experiences but I was reading in Enos (shoutout Elder Carlson) and it was crazy. I read all those same chapters last week and wasn’t super impacted but I read them again this week and I loved so much of it! I liked in the last verse it says “then shall I see his face with pleasure and he will say unto me: Come unto me, ye blessed, there is a place prepared for you in the mansions of heaven” Holy cow what a cool promise! Not only will we be welcomed into heaven but God will have PREPARED a place just for us!! That is so special to me! I know he has a place prepared for you too!!

Today we went to the temple which was awesome! The Payson Temple is INCREDIBLE and to have it full of missionaries was really touching. I love the art work there. 10/10. A little painful to drive through BYU campus on the first day of school BUT buena suerte to everyone starting school!

Overall I love love love being a missionary- even here at the MTC. I've grown so much and I’m loving the person God is molding me into! 

Gods got you!! I love you all lots!! Keep me posted!!

Hermana Miller

lots of pics this week!

hrmna miles and i with our cookies! our bff spanish district! the beloved bag of goodies! hrmna miles and I sitting up at the devotional! beautiful payson temple!!! my district! our district with our teacher hermana duran! ran into my primary teachers!! all serving missions now!!