Alma 26:22...

(caught in a hail storm)

This past week has just been a busy one, but I have loved EVERY SINGLE MINUTE OF IT!

I grew a lot, and watched me and my companion grow closer too. I just love her! She is kind and mindful of those around her and really sincerely wants to grow. She's also slightly awkward, and it's honestly so funny! We're a right pair, but somehow it works! It's never a dull moment.

Then we have to talk about Mark, Mark is stuck. He's trying to get an answer, but is struggling. We had a lesson with him and he wasn't reading or praying, completely different than what we usually hear back from him. I was actually frustrated with him! I kept thinking "why haven't you done those things, that's how you'll get an answer! Those things are SO important, you can't not do them. Why haven't you done them?" and things like this just raged inside of me because Mark hadn't taken the time to do the small and simple things that will lead him to an answer. Afterwards I was just sad, sad because he wasn't progressing as fast as I thought he should, and also because of the way I felt. This led me to reflect on how Heavenly Father must feel when I don't bus contact, or I let that one person walk past me. Why aren't I speaking with them? Why am I letting my body overcome my spirit? But then I realized that Heavenly Father, He only expects our best. He expects OUR all. He loves us perfectly, so I need to love those we teach perfectly. Sometimes we are the Lords investigator, and I'm grateful He takes the time to teach us.

(the district)

Also after that rough moment, things picked up! We've been going out with our all to find families! We've united with many members of the ward to pray specifically for us to find families to teach for thirty days. (the members here are SO willing and ready!) That has started and let me tell you, things are happening! Our investigator Vicky, I just love her! She is such a wonderful mum, and when we met with her this week, she expressed that she wanted to come to church, but was scared because she hadn't been to church in ages, but that she wanted to come! So we then told her we could show her the chapel this week, and she'll come to church this Sunday with her two girls! Also another mum, Maureen, is amazing too. She is a single mum as well, and has three wonderful children. We went by and she expressed that she didn't want to do anything without being completely unified with her children. I thought that was amazing, because she really does love her kids. They read the scriptures every morning as a family and have a family prayer. We talked about how the Gospel really does unify families, I've seen it many times, and that we'd love to help her and her children to see if this is for them. We're seeing them today and I am so excited!!! I feel that the time really is now, and we just have to keep pace!

I do know that the Book of Mormon is truly for our day, such as in Alma 26:22 Yea, he that repenteth and exerciseth faith, and bringeth forth good works, and prayeth continually without ceasing—unto such it is given to know the mysteries of God; yea, unto such it shall be given to reveal things which never have been revealed; yea, and it shall be given unto such to bring thousands of souls to repentance, even as it has been given unto us to bring these our brethren to repentance.

The time is now, as we apply the things in this scripture, I do know that we can being many souls unto repentance. I'm trying my best to be faithful and trust in the Lords promises, to be obedient, and endure. I swear, we endure a lot, but it's well worth it.

I love you all so much! Sorry for writing a book, it's so hard to put my weeks into words, so this is as good as it gets!
Again, love y'all!
Sister Miller

Alma 24:26...

Hey Everybody,

So I can't believe the first week of this new transfer is already over, even though this week went by slower than most. I'm not gonna lie, this week definitely tried my faith a little. Out of the Blue a few of our investigators earlier on in the week just told us they didn't want to meet with us anymore, there's also too just been a few that we haven't been able to meet with for quite a while; So I was honestly pretty discouraged. I felt like I wasn't doing something right, or maybe we could've worked harder to help these people progress. And the minute I thought these things I just had a thought and a feeling that told me everything would work out, and that its okay. I realized that my purpose as a missionary is to Invite others to come unto Christ, not Force them. So at that point I knew that We had done all we could and that the Lord was pleased with our efforts and he would provide more opportunities to share the gospel with others that were ready as long as we were ready to do it.

After having these thoughts I was still sad about those people who we wouldn't be meeting with anymore, but I really did feel that if we did our best moving forward God would show us some miracles, because he had before. Basically, we just kept doing the work that we knew would help our area grow. We were going by Potential Inv, where were visiting less actives, serving the members and in the moment it didn't seem like too many things were happening, but last night when we were looking back on the week and seeing what kind of success we had, we realized that we had picked up 5 investigators! Which was More than the number of Investigators we lost at the beginning of the week. Not only that, but we had three of our investigators that we thought weren't really progressing come to church, and they Loved it!

I just felt so blessed by the Lord I was honestly speechless, when I said a prayer thanking Him. He truly is merciful, he Loves all of us, he knows us and our situations, he will bless us if we are patient and diligent in doing the things that bring us and other closer to Him; and I have seen these things this past week. I've learned a lot this week. I know that missions are not easy, nor are they supposed to be, I know that its in the hard times that we undergo the most growth, and I Know that the Lord is Mindful of the things that matter most to us. I am Loving the things I am learning out here, I hope that I continue to learn and grow and be who the Lord wants and needs me to be. I have a lot of room for improvement, so I just hope that that room is filled by the end of this mission.

I Love Y'all! Thank You for keeping me in the loop, for showing so much care and concern for me and the work I'm doing, and just thank you for being there. Keep things up the way they are! Do what is right, and keep praying for me please! Thank You! Until Next weeks Email... Godspeed Everyone!


Love, Elder Page

Round 2 in LB4th!!!...

So to just right to it, Me and Elder Henry will be staying together another transfer here in the Long Beach 4th Ward. We are both really happy to be staying together, just for the goodness of our companionship, the progression of our investigators, and the love we have for this area. It's gonna be a blast serving with Elder Henry for another 6 weeks. I'm glad the Lord trusts us enough to let us stick with each other and continue to serve the best we can.

There are a lot of changes being made in the zone. It's sad to see missionaries you've come close to leave, but at the same time, you just know you'll see them again and we are always united by the work we're doing. The Lord watches over us and allows us to be one in purpose, which is always cool to remember. I can't believe 6 weeks went by that fast! It's just continues to amaze me. But another 6 weeks will hopefully be the positive difference for some of our investigators.

Christy is doing really well still. She feels happier than she ever has, she is praying and she finally committed to actually read the Book of Mormon. We even helped her install the gospel library onto her phone, so she says she has no excuse. Last lesson we had with her we simply went over the entire restoration, hitting hard on prophets, Christ's ministry, authority, the great apostasy, and finally Joseph smith and the Book of Mormon. For some reason this time, everything just clicked with her! We were honestly shocked! But we knew it was because we planned hard for her lesson and thought how we could tailor the message to Christy. She started to cry at the very end when we asked her How it would feel to know that God really did reach out to her in Love by giving her another Prophet. She just said that it would feel REALLY Good, and that it would help her feel that God really does Love her and care about her. And she knows now the Only way she can know if there is a prophet on the earth today is by reading the Book of Mormon and asking Heavenly Father if its All True. So overall Christy is doing really well. We're gonna meet again with her tonight.

We also had a pretty cool finding story this week. It actually happened last Monday night. But we were out going by people and we were actually in the projects so there were people everywhere! We were pretty much done going by the specific people we had planned to see and on our way out we were stopped by this girl, she was 18 and she had a little 7 year old brother. Her names Natalie and she just asked us if we could help her and her little brother find a church to go to, because they wanted to go, especially her little brother. So we said, Definitely! And told her about the church a little bit. And instead of just saying Alright well y'all have a nice night we'll hope to see you on Sunday, we just asked her if she had 15 minutes we could share a special message with her, she immediately said yeah sure! So this was crazy enough, but to make it even better, just as we were about to sit down another girl about Natalie's age walks up and says, Hey Elders! Instantly my Modar (Mormon Radar) was going off, and it turns out she was a member! She was from Utah visiting family who were nonmembers there in the complex! So she came and joined us, and her and Natalie knew each other and were good friends because she had recently moved. I Hope all of this is making sense. I feel like Abby trying to tell this story. Yopu gotta get every little detail in! Anyways, to make a long story short, we helped Natalie feel Gods Love and We taught her a little bit about prophets and how we have one on the earth today, and that really interested her. It was a short lesson, but having the girl that was a member there really helped Natalie feel comfortable and brought the spirit stronger.

Very Simply, I know God puts people, His Children, Our brothers and Sisters in our paths. So that we can bless, strengthen and uplift one another. This Gospel blesses families and it can bless each of us individually. I know that that is true because I have seen it, but more so Felt it in my life. I Love this work, I love My companion, and I Love Y'all!

I Hope you have a really good week. Be safe, Pray Often. God Speed!

Love, Elder Page

Put your shoulder to the wheel...

I would like to start off by saying I have a very vivid memory of singing "put your shoulder to the wheel" in sunday school with Bishop Watson, and I really loved that class!

This week was a good one, but honestly it was hard. On Wednesday I just felt so low. I had this awful feeling in my heart and just didn't know where it was from. It literally felt like a pit in my chest. So, knowing that it should be temporary, I knew that just keeping working would help more than hurt. I told Sister Andersen what I was feeling, and she just listened, she really is the kindest person! But I would like to let you know that the horrible feeling I had in my heart just dissipated as I kept working. As I put away what I was feeling and remembered who I was and why I'm here, everything else just worked out. Missionary work is full of ups and downs, but we can't have the good without the bad.

Also at zone meeting, the main focus was on purifying our heart. And so in order to do so, they invited us to follow the example of the Michigan Lansing mission, and make a list and pray over it every day for 40 days for help and strength to overcome my weaknesses and purify my heart. Also I think sometimes we have to start with the small and simple things first, so I had noticed that I would go around the flat without my name tag on and only wear it if we were going out. I realized that this could probably be better, SO I decided to wear my name tag ALL the time! Even when I go to bed!
Also this week, we've just had the best lessons with Mark! We're really trying to help him make it to baptism, and the best thing is that he takes it so seriously! He really wants to make sure that this is the thing that God wants him to do, not just what he wants to do. We're helping him to learn how to pray and receive answers to his prayers. This week as well we visited Peter again, and honestly, he is so interesting! He is very open to believing in a God, but is skeptical. He's had wonderful spiritual experiences, but is also very weary. I think something that helps when we visit him is just bearing our testimonies, that really is just the best thing we can do. He really listens and we really listen to him.

And one more person, Vicky! She is a miracle! She's a momma of two sweet little girls. We met her dad a few weeks ago, and he wasn't too interested, but somehow his heart was soft enough for us to share a Book of Mormon with him and to get a return address. We went back and he said that he hadn't read it. Then we went back a week later, and his daughter had opened the door. She asked if we were the ones who left the book, and she told us that she actually really liked it. We've been meeting with her once a week now for 3 weeks, and she's honestly flying through the Book of Mormon. She is so wonderful, and we can't wait to see what will happen :) I'm so sorry my emails are all over the place, but I'm just overall grateful for the experiences I'm having on my mission, they're shaping and changing me every day for the better.


Love you all so very much!

Sister Miller

The day after Mother's day...

So, its been less than 24 hours since I've talked with my family, so I don't know what else to say that will spice up this email, so I guess I'll just say a few things they've already heard and try to make it sound different.
But while we're talking about family, I Love My family so stinkin much! It felt so natural to talk to everybody yesterday, kinda like we were never separated. It was Great to see everybody and laugh and cry and just catch up. I really did just feel the Love and the unity. It's too bad the video chats are as short as they are, but I know that I'll see them all again, which is good to know, and that as long as I am serving diligently and enjoying myself, the Lord will watch over and look after my family while I'm gone.

So this past week was really good. Me and Elder Henry had a lot of opportunities to teach and to serve. We made it a goal to talk to even more people than we have in the past. Since we are in a car its a little harder to street contact, but like I said, we made an effort to talk to more people on the way to and from each appointment. It is something that I feel like is easy to do, but the blessings from doing it are really great. Even if the people we talk to don't except us or the gospel, it helps us feel the spirit stronger throughout the day, because we are opening our mouths, inviting, and doing what we've been asked to do as missionaries. So that's been good, we really enjoy ourselves and have fun with it.

Our investigators are doing really good, especially Christy. She keeps in contact with us every single day and she loves seeing us. We are now meeting with her about 3X a week which is super good! She is dead set on coming to church again next week which will be great. We also came across another lady who we're now teaching named Chrissy. She is so prepared! We just contacted her while she was in her car outside her house and she said to come back another day, so we did. We shared the 'Because He Lives" video with her and then talked about how the gospel can bless her family. She has two little kids and a soon to be husband. Before we left she asked us one specific question that she said she's asked to her family, pastors, friends, and no one has been able to give her a good answer, and the question is, "Why are there so many different religions?" All we could do was smile and promise we would answer that question next time. We should be meeting with her later this week, which will hopefully be a really spiritual experience where we can help her feel the spirit and also answer her question! We are so excited. But she has a lot of promise and she's just a really nice lady, so we are praying and trusting that things go well.

Those are the main highlights from this week, I hope this email wasn't too lame, I'll have something real juicy next week! But I love y'all and am praying daily for you.
Thank you for Showing your love and care.
Happy Days!
Godspeed!
Elder Page

I have no idea what to title this...

We had such a busy week, and me and Sister Andersen (you say it like Ann-er-sen) have just settled in so well together. She is caring, kind, and motivating! She is so sweet, and something that I learned from my trainer is to always end the day on a good note, so she always told me my greatest strength for the day. I've carried on that tradition, and now when I tell Sister Andersen her strength, she really takes the time to listen and accept the compliment, and she also tells me my strength. The love that is in our companionship is a testimony to me, that as we love one another that the spirit will be with us and we'll teach in unity.

We saw so many miracles this week! For one, Mark is progressing! We met with him this week with Brother Bob and Brother Stan, and throughout the lesson Mark was trying to see how these things can help him in his life. We then got a text after expressing sincere desire to know how this could help him in his life. We told him that of course it would help, and that it will give him the tools that he needs to come out of this life on top :) He even came to church! It just was so natural for him to be there, and he even said that he'd be back next Sunday! I just love when people feel the happiness of this gospel! Because honestly, this gospel is HAPPINESS! PURE happiness. There is no other way to describe it but BRIGHT.

Also there's this member, Brother Bob, who is an avid missionary. He's sometimes the third member of our companionship haha. So we visited this man who we've visited before. The first time we visited him, he went on about how if he could see a sign, then he'd be the most faithful believer and member. We were kind of stuck as to what to do, but we saw potential in him. So we went back last night, and he started to talk about the same thing he did last time, but then Brother Bob suggested that we would all bear our testimonies to him, and that he could just listen and see if he felt anything, and promised him that he would. I was honestly quite worried at this point for basically promising this man a miracle, but I knew that if I exercised my faith, then it could happen. So one by one, we bore a fervent testimony, and then ended in prayer. After we asked "did you feel anything?" The mans son said no, but then the man just paused and said "A-U...that's the chemical symbol for gold...gold? Gold paper...?" HE GOT A SIGN! (I honestly had to pick my jaw back off the floor from being in shock!) We told him that what had just been impressed upon his mind was the GOLD plates that the Book of Mormon was written on by the former prophets! We then talked to him a bit about the Book of Mormon, and we left him with a paper copy of the "gold plates". We will be seeing that man, Peter, later this week.

I know that God is a God of miracles, and that He is always aware of us and those around us. He really does care about us. I love this work. I love serving with Sister Andersen, and I'm also so greatful for the members in Stretford, I know without them we wouldn't get very far.

Remember to say your prayers, I love y'all SO much!

Sister Miller

Happy Mothers Day....

There are so many women that I could pay tribute to for being great mothers but I just need to pay tribute to two today...Mothers are women who love you unconditionally, and show it through selfless acts of service and quiet gestures of kindness, simply a touch of the hand, or the perfect scratch from perfectly manicured hand (that was my Mom, every time I sat next to her) I miss those moments of affection and love from her. I find myself doing those very same acts of love that my mom did for me to my children. Oh how I miss her.

But I still have a mother close by who loves me just the same, unconditionally and shows me with simple acts of service and one who remembers me in her prayers. I have benefitted from those pleas to our Heavenly Father on more than one occasion.

I just want to say thank you to those two beautiful mothers that I have been blessed with, I feel the love of my mother often, so grateful that the veil is thin and I can feel her near at times, and I am so grateful that I still have one here with me to give me hugs when I need them.

Happy Mothers Day Mom and Myra

Time flies when you are having fun...

This past transfer was only four weeks, and I only had the privileged to serve with Sister Dunn for those 4 short weeks. I learned SO much, not to mention she is just so fun! I've loved my time with my little Fijian :) She's going to Rosendale Valley and I'm staying in Stretford and Sister Anderson from Denmark will be my new companion! I'm super excited for this new transfer. I honestly love the optimism that come from a fresh start, and I just can't wait!

Well I just want to say that this past week, I learned a lot. I learned just really how strong my testimony is of the Book of Mormon. This week we visited by a potential investigator who has a very strong belief in God and in the Savior, as well as the Bible. We went round to see how she was doing and to follow up with a leaflet we left her with, only to have her let out basically everything harsh she has ever thought about Mormons. Now, I am used to this and it doesn't bother me anymore and I just let them get it out and then bare testimony. But she was raising her voice in frustration because we carry around the Book of Mormon, and not the Bible. She went on and on, and to say the least it start to hurt! I couldn't stand to be yelled at anymore because there was contention building. So I kindly butt it, and bore my testimony of the Book of Mormon and Joseph Smith. I then kindly excused myself and Sister Dunn, and we left. It was really hard to do that and I then pondered if that was really the right thing to have done. As I thought about it, Joseph Smith came to my mind and how he had to defend the Book of Mormon every day. He had to hide it, keep it safe, and work tooth and nail just so we could have it in our hands today. I am SO grateful for the Book of Mormon and that I know that it is the word of God. There is also a talk by Jeffery R. Holland (an apostle of the Lord) that says "defend your beliefs with courtesy and compassion, BUT defend them".

Speaking of the Book of Mormon, we got the most brilliant text from our investigator Mark, telling us that he knows that the Book of Mormon is the word of God! He prayed about it and listened to the Holy Ghost. Mark is truly amazing because he was taught by sisters about a year or so ago, and we found his number in our area book. We met with him and he is just SO ready. He has yet to come to church, but on Sunday he came to the fireside in Altrincham and while the closing prayer was being said, I prayed to know what to say to Mark. When the prayer was over I simply asked "what do you feel?" and he said "I feel warm, I feel as if I'm being guided by God to know if this is right". This is a true conversion. We could drag him into the waters of baptism, or he can decide full-heart-idly that this is right. I love that all we have to do as missionaries is invite because that allows people to use their agency and it's so amazing to watch people use their agency to follow the Lord.

Oh! Almost forgot about the whole mission wide conference on Saturday! We had Stephen B Allen (he's the head of the whole church's missionary department in Europe) and Timothy J Dychees (an area 70, of someone who looks over the church in Europe!) come and speak to us about the use of technology in our mission. They really focused on how when we get the I Pads that the greatest filter is our self, and that if we develop the habit of turning on the device with a purpose in mind, then we won't be led astray! It was so nice to gather together as a mission, and I just find it so special that we'll be using I Pads to hasten the Lords work sometime in the near future (we didn't get a firm date).

Well I hope y'all have a great week, and remember to say your prayers!

I love y'all, Sister Miller

Another week goes by...

Hey Everyone!!!

This past week was a a good one to say the least! I feel like I'm just undergoing so much positive growth every single week. It's painful in the moment but looking back I always feel so good and grateful to the Lord in letting me change and become better with his help. This week me and Elder Henry focused a lot on finding new people to teach, that was our goal. We tried everyday to look out for those people we feel like god was putting in our path. And even for those we didn't feel like God was putting in our path we still talked to, because we're out here to share the gospel with all God's children our brothers and sisters. So even when we get rejected hard its good to know we are doing what we've been asked to do, and we are giving these people a fair chance at accepting the gospel. We ended up finding 7 new investigators by the end of this week, which is quite a bit for this area.

God is blessing us so much for the effort we are putting in. The evidence is so obvious that there is a Heavenly Father that loves us. It's really simple, when we do what's right and promise God we will do our very best at(At whatever it is) He will step in and help us, and not only help us with the task at hand but will give us more than we deserve and by additionally blessing us.

I got to go on an exchange with our zone leaders this week and it was one of the best exchanges/experiences I've had on the mission up till now. I was with Elder Benfell, he's from Virginia, super cool guy and an even better missionary! We set goals at the start of the exchange, and throughout the day worked hard and tried to do what the Lord wanted us to do. We had so much fun serving together, it was a blast! It's a good feeling to know you're getting things done, but it's a Great feeling when you know you're having fun while doing it! We became pretty close just after 24 hours. We got to know each other even better, we learned from one another, and we both grew together. I've said it before but I'll say it again. This work brings not only the families we are teaching closer together, but as a missionary I have built some of the strongest relationships while in the Lords service. The fact that I can get to know, enjoy spending time with, and learn to love someone over 24 hours hapens like this only in the service of the Lord! I Love It. It's a miracle really to see. This Gospel very simply blesses.

There are a lot of Investigators me and Elder Henry are teaching right now, but if I had to pick a favorite right now it would be Christy. Christy is the mom of 3 kids, two girls and a boy, and she is pretty awesome! The first few times she met with us she was a little hesitant with it all, but over the past few weeks she has really opened up. Her heart has been softened. She loves when we come over and teach her, she really is just taking it all in. Its funny when we see that she is having a spiritual confirmation and we ask her how she feels, and initially she doesnt want to admit it, but she always ends up just saying how good she feels when she understands what we are sharing. She has even said over the past couple of weeks she has been praying to have a better relationship with one of her daughters and she has seen a difference. She said she feels closer to her daughter. And her daughter has even sat in on the last 2 lesson! She's been to church once and we're hopefully gonna keep her coming, but I just want to make the point again that this gospel blesses our lives when we understand and live it.

I Love sharing it with people and I love to see people change for the better. I love Long Beach, My mission, The Lord and his work! And I Love Y'all. Thank you for all that you do, really everything! Have a good week, and I will talk to You On Mothers Day!!!! Heck Yeah! Godspeed!

Love, Elder Page

(Elder Henry's old companion that has since gone home but was back for a visit and got them dinner)