13 PaGeS LoNg

WhErE tHe PaGeS oF tHiS bOoK nEvEr EnD



Monday, September 29, 2014

3 Nephi 18:20

This Elder Page's Zone...See any familiar faces :)
The view from his apartment is beautiful!!!

Hey Everyone!!
So this email is gonna have to be a little shorter than some of my last ones because we're running short on time today and there is so much to do! I thought P-days were suppose to be the most easy going days, but they're sometimes the most busy! Anyways, the reason the title of the email this week is 3 Nephi 18:20 is because this week I have continued to see answers to my prayers and my testimony of prayer has gotten stronger and stronger. You know why a missionary prayer is So important! We can't do anything without Gods help and without the spirit guiding us and directing us, and prayer is really the key to have that guidance and that direction. Something I learned is that God always answers our prayers but it's our obedience to His will that determines how quickly we receive an answer. So it finally clicked for me as to why we as missionaries have to be so dang obedient all the time and it's so we can receive the revelation that will help our investigators, our brothers and our sisters who need the gospel! They need it now, and so we are asked to be as obedient as we can be so that we can receive answers to our prayers and answers for our investigators to best help them progress and come closer to Christ and the gospel. I definitely have gained a testimony of prayer and answers to prayers, not only for yourself and your own life but God is able to help all of his children a lot of times through others. I know God answers prayers, He hears us when we pray and He wants to answer them. I know this because I have seen it day to day since I've been on my mission. And some days I am less or more obedient than others, and I'm working on it, but I do know that God will always answer our prayers, and it may take years for that prayer to be answered or it just may take us years to see how they were answered but, He is a loving Father in Heaven and will answer our prayers. So Pray Y'all!
That's pretty much it for this week. Sorry it was so short. I'm doing good, and me and Elder Blasko have become brothers! The work is hard, but it's great! I am praying for you all! And I am so grateful for each and every single one of you! I Love you Guys :) I miss you. Can't wait to email next week. And I'll try to take more pictures mom, sorry I've been slackin'.
Godspeed!

Love, Elder Page

Welp, here we find ourselves again...

I´m going to start off with a side note that is that I loved hearing a southern accent in the women's broadcast!! But seriously, even with the spanish voice over, I could hear it a tiny bit and I thought I was going to cry it sounded so "home-y" :)

I love my companion, Hermana Cook. She is so great, and we just pass hours and hours laughing! It´s really fun. And I love learning from her point of view of things. ...It´s so cool that in the mission we get put together (by the will of God) with people that we have never met before, and we have to be with them 24/7, and you learn to love one another. I feel like it could be like some form of a funny reality show! But I am so grateful for the companions that I´ve had in my mission. I´ve had ups and downs, but I can honestly say that I have learned something that has changed me for the better from every companion, and for that I am eternally grateful to them. And even if I never see them again, their influence has left a mark forever...So I try to make it that they leave a good mark always!


Also, just wanna take a second to say that Dios nos ama (God loves us). Seriously, it blows my mind sometimes just how on top of things He is with all the blessings that He gives us! He must have a secretary or two to get it all down to the T! But either way, I love that I have such loving Heavenly Parents who know me well enough to bless and model me when and how they do it. Solo trato de disfrutar el viaje :)(Just trying to enjoy the journey) and so far it´s great!


Love always and always,

Hermana Abigail Page

The Hermana in the back left is her new companion, Hermana Cook

A day with Grandma & Grandpa...

Friday afternoon of last week, we got a visit from Myra & Lindsey. of course they were here to see Scarlett :) but we were so glad to see them! Scarlett slept most of their visit, but once she woke up she was all smiles and goos. She is growing up so very fast.


After Myra & Lindsey left for home, I took some pictures with Dallin and his little ray of sunshine (we all know that Jaclyn is his big ray of Sunshine!) These two are so cute together. I love catching him in moments of just looking at her and thinking ( oh my goodness this is my little girl ) with looks of love for her. They are the cutest little family. And I love being a Grandma!

Women's Broadcast...

Saturday Evening was our Women's Broadcast viewed from Salt Lake, where our General Women's Leaders and Prophets and Apostles speak to us. What a thrill it is to know that MILLIONS of women are seeing the same thing at the same time all over the world. There is Strength in knowing that! I also liked picturing all of my girls all over the world watching and learning the same things. It made ma feel closer to them. Jaclyn and I loved being able to view it together, but we did miss them.
Prior to the Broadcast we had an activity that was inspired by Elder Bednar's Education Week talk on Flooding the Earth with goodness and how we can take part in fulfilling prophecy to bring the gospel to the earth using social media. It was so much fun being with Sisters in our Stake who love the Lord and want to serve him. We used Social Media to share that message to others. Here are a few of My pictures from that event.
Here is a link to the Women's Conference. I hope that some of my friends who did not get to attend this wonderful evening will take that time to watch!

https://www.lds.org/general-conference/sessions/2014/10?&lang=eng

What a Lesson...


Hellllo!
Ha ha so let me start off my email with the preface that again, I am talking about faith and trust and it is just my favorite thing ever to talk about. So a typical day in South Port: study, study, lunch, hop on a bus, go to a home (and they forgot), next home!, again, no one is there, let's just knock some doors, yay! two people talked to us!, bus home, dinner, lesson with a member, and then walk around for like an hour. The walking around for like an hour happens around 8 and it's been pitch black and cold since 6 so no one is out and I'm so tired and just ready to go home and have planning. I really just do not like walking around town at like 8 at night because I do not see a purpose to it other than obedience, it is just cold and everyone we say 'hello' to just keeps on walking. I know this is really bad and I'm supposed to be like super positive and happy that I'm out sharing the gospel that late at night, but I just don't like it! So since I don't like it so much Heavenly Father decided it was time to teach Sister Miller a lesson, and a very good one at that. Ha ha so I also want to say that I've never complained about it before this night! So on Thursday night I was just pooped and ready to go home, but it was 8:30 and we were going to be out until 9, so we caught a bus to Lord street and would walk home from there (while talking to whoever came in our path). Right when we got off the bus I started thinking 'yaaaay...here we go again............' and was just so not happy. Ha ha I even told Sister Hunter, and I was just going on and on about how there was really no point to it, and she was kind of agreeing as well. But as we were walking there was a lady on a bench and Sister Hunter was like 'alright, here we go!' and in my head I was thinking 'another person to say no'. Boy oh boy was I wrong. The women of course thought we were so weird for talking to her at first but we eventually sat down with her and talking to her for 45 minutes! She was just the most wonderful person ever. She had all kinds of questions about prayer, how to receive answers, about our church, and just so many things! The whole time the conversation was just surrounded on the gospel. And at one point sister Hunter was going to share a scripture but we went onto another topic and before we left the women wanted to hear the verses! Never in my life would I have expected such a conversation at 8:45 at night. But hey, I was proven wrong. Ha ha after we finally left and were walking home I just said 'welp, I guess I won't ever complain about being out until 9 ever again'. I just learned this week that no matter what, I need to be quiet and trust in the Lord! ha ha I swear it'll probably take my whole life, and even longer, to have perfect faith, but every single day I will keep on trying. I just love it!
Well sorry this is a long one,
I love you all! :)

-Sister Miller

Monday, September 22, 2014

God is good!...



Hey there Everybody!!
So this week was a week of a lot of growth for me. The highlight of the week other, than the fact that I got a parking ticket, was exchanges! Yep, I did get a parking ticket, in California, they do this ridiculous thing called "street sweeping" where on certain days these big ol trucks go around and give cars parked on certain parts of the street tickets. It was only a $50 ticket, which isn't too bad, but it still put a slight damper on my day.

But anyway, exchanges, what happened during exchanges and the entire day, just put that problem away and there was way to much good to worry about the negative! So I've been on exchanges before but I always went to another elders area, but this time around, Elder Whetten, really cool guy, hardworking, great missionary, was coming to our area, and I was gonna be the one to take over the area and make the plans and basically be the senior companion for the day. I'm gonna be completely honest, when I found that out, I got really scared and nervous, because since being trained, I've worked hard but Elder Blasko has done most of the leading out. But before I was about to sink into despair, I was reading in the scriptures, and I don't remember where but, it's in D&C and its saying how through the lord all things are made possible, and with the lords help we can do all things. And those verses really hit me because, I was scared out my socks, yet I knew that the Lord would help me out and give me the strength and the confidence and the guidance to be able to lead in the work for the area. Also,, something Katie would always tell me is that "you can't grow in a comfort zone." That's true :)You know, I realized something else and that that, if the Savior wants a baptism, He'll get a baptism, if He wants a new investigator, He'll get one. Basically, I had the thought that whatever the Lord sees fit to happen he will make it happen through his servant (me). And all that he asks is that we be humble, do our best and trust in him. And so that's what I did. The night before we exchanged I prayed so hard to get the help and the confidence and strength I knew I would need, and to just have a good, successful day. To make a long story short, With Elder Whettens help, we were able to do some really good things during the exchange. We taught a few really good lessons where the spirit was very strong, we picked up a couple of investigators, and we even committed someone to baptism. I learned a ton during and after that day. I was lifted up and heck I was carried by the Lord during that exchange, I know that I couldn't have done what needed to be done without the Lord and the spirit. This is His work, and it's through us as missionaries that this work is accomplished, we are just the middlemen & women. And at times it may seem like we aren't good enough, or we don't know enough, because that's how I felt in this situation, but I also know that through the Savior Jesus Christ we can have the strength and the confidence and the assurance to do His will and we can face life's challenges with a "Perfect brightness of hope", and that comes when we truly are perfected in Him.

I ended that day, knowing that my prayers were answered, and that I did receive the help I knew I needed. The Lord truly is merciful and full of Love. Its crazy how much its able to be felt as a missionary, probably because everything you do is through Him and by Him. Well That was the main event for this week, I don't have much more to say, other than I know this church is true, I Know that Joseph Smith is that prophet who restored the church. On a quick side note, after reciting the First vision over and over again, my testimony of Joseph Smith just keeps on growing, the spirit never fails to be present when using Josephs own words. I Love this Gospel, the Gospel truly does bless families, its Real.

I Love you Guys So Much. Its great to see Scarlett Jean doing well, and to see Paw Paw Jack too! I miss that Man! :) Keep being the family that you are to me. I will try to stay on two wheels again this week. Ive been riding my bike extra careful! California is Crazy! But anyways,
I Love you All, and cant wait to email next week!

Until then.

Godspeed!

Love, Elder Page

I felt like Ammon or somethin'...



Okay so this week has been the definition of loca. But seriously, so much has happened.
First thingy: my companion Hermana Zimmerman left/finished her mission, so all week we were finalizing visas and plans and visits and packing and packing and packing and trying to get her bags in the right weight and all that fun jazz. And all week, we didn´t know what was going to happen to me. Then yesterday right before church, President called and told us that Hermana Zimmerman was leaving to go to Viña at 2pm, and that he was going to change the companionship of the second part of our ward and that the baby/new missionary in our ward was going to a completely different area and that la Hermana Cook (the one that Zach knows) was going to be called as una Hermana líder y que iba a ser mi nueva compañera. So after that, we all headed to church, had a great Sunday, had a miracle (which I will explain in just a second), picked up the luggage of the Hermana, went to the bus terminal, she left, we went back, helped the other Hermanas packup and clean, and then we sent the other Hermana to her new area and then Hermana Cook officially become my companion and moved to my house. And now we are working the whole ward..just the two of us. This story sound familiar? It kinda sounds like exactly what happened to me in Limache haha!


Now onto the miracle! So on Saturday we went to teach a contact that we had done in the street a week early se llama Sugey (say it like "Sue-hey"). She´s from Colombina and super great. But really, she´s awesome. And we taught her and everything, and at the end of getting to know her and teaching her about the restoration, she asked us if she could share a dream that she has been having for about a year. This is the dream... "I went to a big building for a baptism and there were windows at the entrance. And to go to the baptism we had to go up a few stairs to the right and we went into a room. And to get into the baptismal font ya had to go around another way to get in and go down the steps into the water. And the water was crystal blue/clear. And they told me that the men had to do the baptism. The people in the water were dressed in white and they had to go completely under the water to be baptized. I wanted to take pictures, but they told me that it was sacred and that you couldn't take pictures of the baptism. Afterwards, we went back down a few stairs to the pulpit to hear a few testimonies of different Hermanos, and then we went back to a room and there were gringos cutting cake, and they told me that I could take pictures then cause it was more of a party now."

.........I know that y´all don't know my chapel here, but LITERALLY, she was describing OUR CAPILLA! Step for step! So we quickly invited her to church the next day. And during church, after Sunday school, we opened the doors to the baptismal font (that was in the process of filling up for a baptism that was going to happen after church) and when Sugey saw the font she gasped and started crying and shaking and she fell to her knees and said "its my dream! its exactly the same as my dream...the water the mirror...everything!" But literally, she fell to her knees, crying in joy. Hermana Zimmerman and I were also crying too and we then invited her to be baptized, and she accepted.

I literally felt like Alma or Ammon or algo, with all the fainting with joy!

But literally...I have never witnessed a miracle as wonderful and awesome as what happened yesterday with Sugey. I really in that moment felt like an instrument in God´s hands.

Never forget: Big or small, MILAGROS EXSITEN.

I love you guys and I wouldn´t trade a second of what I am doing right now for anything on the world. It´s God´s work and his hand is evident in EVERY day.

Love always and always,

Hermana Abigail Page









Bus Passes will be the death of me...



So let me just start off this email with a positive note, I am being able to find a miracle in every single day (thank you kimber for the notebook!) But this week has been a week full of up's and down's, and it is downright difficult trying to stay on that up path!

I learned why missionary work is hard this week. It isn't because we have to get up early, we're out all day, I can't memorize 500 things in a week, or that it's cold. It's watching someone deny the Holy Ghost and watching them walk away from the Lord.

Remember that man last week who I could've sworn up and down that he was going to become a member? Yeah we met with him the next day and he told us that he had met some Jehovah witnesses and he was meeting with them the next AM. We taught him like normal, but he just didn't understand why we need to pray to our Heavenly Father to receive an answer if what we are teaching him was true. We bore our testimonies (where you say what you know is true about the church) and just asked him to pray that night. He still just couldn't understand it and really seemed like he didn't want to. We asked if we could meet up with him a few days later and he just didn't seem interested and told us he would let us know. We were walking away and Sister Hunter said to me "Welp, that's missionary work for ya" and I just broke down. I just couldn't comprehend that he denied the simple truths we were teaching him! It is just an awful feeling watching someone you care for turn away from the Lord. Sister Hunter and I went and talked about it and I feel a lot better about it now, but that is just difficult. I realized that I probably felt a drop of the sorrow that our Heavenly Father feels when we turn away from Him. I will never understand how he bares it all.

The only reason I was able to overcome that sorrow was through Christ's Atonement. It was the most comforting thing to pray that night to my Heavenly Father and give him all of the sorrow and pain I felt for that man, and I knew He would take it away from me. It's amazing how quickly Christ is there to lift you out of the water. That has to be one of my favourite stories in the Bible now; where Jesus asked Peter to walk on water, and he did. But then Peter panicked and started to sink. As soon as he started to sink he cried out to the Lord to save him, and IMMEDIATLY Christ out-stretched his hand and pulled Peter out of the water. I know that is exactly what the Saviour did for me this week, He pulled me out of the harsh waters the moment I asked him to.

The rest of the week I was determined to make it good! To have perfect faith and me and Sister Hunter were going to do the Lord's work! Haha I'm greatful we had that outlook because nothing went right! But we kept faith and I think we knocked on more doors than I had this whole year! Haha but by doing that we were being diligent and we never got down, as soon as one person said no, we went to the next, and the next, and the next. And guess what? No one was interested! But we kept on going and we caught the bus to our next appointment, and the Lord blessed me immensely for being so diligent. A lady sat down next to me and the first thing I thought was "awh man, bus contacting......" but then I just did it anyways. And I told her who I was and what I did and the next thing I knew she was in tears because a loved one had passed away 5 weeks ago. I bore my testimony that I know that she will be able to see them again, and that she can find comfort in the teachings of Christ. She gave my hand the tightest squeeze and asked all about church on Sunday!!! I was like about to jump outta my seat! We never did see her this Sunday at church but I know I planted a seed, and that is good enough for me :)

Lastly, I lost my stinkin' bus pass again.... so that's fun. But we went back yesterday to the street where we think I lost it and didn't find it, but ran into a man who had met missionaries before! He was super friendly and told us we could stop by if we're ever in the area. So there's a reason for everything, huh? I'm learning that lesson loads on my mission.

One rain storm this week for like 5 minutes...it's so weird! But man once the sun sets it is like put on as many layers as possible! I love it though! Also we have exchanges this week (so I'll go to a different area for a new day with one of the sisters in that area). I'm going to South Ribble which is where the first baptisms happened in England! And then Wednesday we have Zone activities (a zone is the group of missionaries within a certain area) or something in Liverpool so I get to hear that accent once again! I am so excited for the week to come, and to share to everyone we meet that this is Christ's church once again restored on this Earth. I am so greatful for that knowledge. Also, we've doubled our prayers as a companionship and it's making a world of difference, so I think y'all should try to double your own prayers this week and see how it goes :)

I love you all so much! Be safe!!!!

-Sista Milla

Monday, September 15, 2014

Luke 22:42


Hello Family & Loved ones!
I wanna start off again by saying thank you for the emails and pictures and prayers! I Love you Guys, and I can definitely feel the love. I got to take part in the family fast yesterday, it was a really spiritual experience, to know that for a whole day I was fasting for the family. I Love the fact that we get to do this. It really is a spiritual boost for all of us! And I have felt that boost for the past couple weeks and look forward to continuing to feel it:) I'll be sure to fast for Jaclyn specifically next time it's my day, and I will pray everyday for her. I'm sorry to hear about her right now, but Jaclyn being the kinda person she is is making the best out of it and growing spiritually from it. I Love you Jaclyn, thank you for your example of faith and strength.
These past 7 days were quite a week! It was a great week! I don't even know where to begin. Its been flippin Hot out here! The past weeks high was like 90 I think, and it's been pretty dry, Nevertheless, the work must go on. Which is why we used the car all this past week, haha. I love having a car in the mission. Bikes are nice but when you are straddling a bike seat for hours on in in the hot sun, it starts to take its toll. So the car has been nice lately. People are saying its suppose to start cooling down, which will be nice :)
Well, after transfers we now have some new additions to the zone, I'm in an awesome zone. Every missionary in it is great! A lot of variety, but as a whole we mesh and work really well together. The "theme" I guess you could say for this transfer is, "Not my will, but thine be done". Its a pretty dang good, scripture to work by. When we decided on this, it motivated all of us as a zone, me and elder blasko as a companionship, and especially me myself to want to work as hard as I can the next 5 weeks. I've read Luke 22:42 (Goal/Theme) everyday since district meeting to remind myself that it really is the lords will and not ours as the missionaries. Something I've learned is that working hard is great! But putting your trust in the lord, doing his will, and letting everything play out the way he wants and needs it to is way more important than just doing everything on your own pure will power. As I've put my trust in the lord and thought what his will is in everyday situations, I have found a lot of peace and rest. But yep, so thats got us all pumped up, so I think this is gonna be a good transfer!
This week I have seen many mini miracles, but I guess to share one, There is a guy named Abel that we've been teaching and meeting with, he has 5 kids and a wife, and he is such a great guy, he's basically already a member. But that is how he is now. About a month ago, so at the beginning of last transfer, Abel, the same man, was about the biggest anti-mormon dude you would find, and he told us multiple times that what we believed wasn't true and he didn't want to meet with us anymore. So about a week or so after we met with him for "the last time", me and Elder Blasko had the impression that we needed to go by Abel and talk to him. Both of us were like, "what the heck, he's not gonna wanna talk to us, he'll probably run us off with a pitchfork or something." But we had just studied that morning about listening to the promptings of the spirit and not delaying. So, we went by Abel. To make a long story short, we talked to Abel. He was not even the same person. His whole attitude towards us changed, he was kind, friendly, he was even cracking jokes! It was a straight miracle. And that's not even the craziest part. Since that first visit back, we have met with Abel every other day for the past 3 weeks or so, and each time we meet with him there is a clear and noticeable change that is taken place. His heart was softened and is continually being softened by the spirit and by the message of the restored gospel. He is so open to everything we teach him, and we are going to hopefully start teaching the entire family.
The gospel blesses families, the gospel changes people, and it can change lives. I know that much to be true because I've seen it. We didn't know that Abel would be ready to hear our message the second time around but the lord did, and by acting on the promptings of the spirit, we were able to do his will and not ours. I love being an instrument in the lords hands, it is a very special thing to me, and I know my love for this work will only grow each day.
I'm running out of time so I have to go, but I just want you all to know that I Love you and am praying for each of you! Thank you for all that you do for me. I look up to every single one of you, and I feel really lucky to be serving alongside missionaries like Abby and Katie, they are both such amazing girls and I Love em'! Tell S"mores and daisy I said hi, and give Scarlett a kiss on the head & hands for me!
Until next week. Godspeed!

Elder Page

Oops I did it again...

Hi Momma. You have been asking for pictures for a long time, so today we went to the internet where you can send pictures. It´s super slow, and it missed up 3 times, but I hope you got a few pictures! I usually don´t send pictures just cause it literally takes alllllll my internet time cause it´s slow and all that. But now I don´t have time to write y´all an email cause it´s time to go. I think I´m just stick to the emails from now on cause now y´all didn´t get any new news...sorry :(
But just want y´all to know that I´m praying and fasting for you all. Especially Jaclyn!

I love you all more than how far the cow jumped to get over the moon!

Have a great week and send my love to everyone.

Be good people.

Love always and always,

Hermana Abigail Page


So here are ALOT of pictures!
Leader Training, doing service, District, a beautiful sunset, NC girl, Coke!

Blog Archive