Hellooo everyone! I LOVE YOU!

    So this last week was transfers, and I honestly had zero inclination that I would be transferred- hence why I didn't really talk alot about it. I was barely put back with Ploeger not too long ago, apparently the Lord has better plans for me than I anticipated. So I didn't REALLY get transferred but I kind of did, let me explain. Sister Ploeger and I were over 2 wards- Avocado (family ward) and Helic (singles ward). Well they split them, now I am in just the Helix ward with Sister Stott, and Sister Ploeger is over the Avocado ward with Sister Virgin. So I am back to giving 100% of my focus to only one ward, which I have to admit is so so nice!

    I absolutely love the Helix ward, the members and bishopric included, all of them.. even though I don't totally know them, I love them already! It's such a privilege to be entrusted with a ward with so much potential. I truly want to help in any and every way that I can. And it definitely helps to have been blessed with such a great companion, Sister Stott is so amazing! I love how it doesn't even feel like we're new companions. We were talking about it and it seems like we've been companions before. We've totally skipped the whole "getting to know you" and adjustment stage and have just gotten right to work! I love her energy and desire to serve, it's contagious and I feel it lifting the mood of the area even more. Things are going absolutely fabulous :) I love Sister Stott and I love the area! Life is good :)

    Still, with having been in this ward for only 3 weeks, I am alittle nervous! I definitely don't feel like I know enough about the area, the members, or the investigators. But this will be a great growing and learning opportunity! I just need to be sure to have faith! This ward has so much potential! They are super friendly, and excited about missionary work... now I just have to figure out where to start. There are so many things I want to do, I want to be a better missionary... I feel like I'm still just learning and I'm already 1/3 through!! Where does the time go! But I've gotten a hint that the next MTE (missionary training exchange) is in 2 weeks and it will be focused on how to work with members more effectively, which will be GREAT! I'm really excited about that!

   This last week we were up at the temple grounds doing their "visitor center" and I had a really cool spiritual experience! A lady and her little todler were heading towards the doors so I casually (and very gracefully might I add ;)) chased them down. Apparently her daughter wanted to see "the castle". For some reason that only God really knows, I felt inspired to go into the waiting room with them and show the pictures there (we never do that). So we headed in and she started off explaining how she has member friends who she loves! So I asked her if she has met with missionaries before and she said no. So I continued on to tell her what missionaries do exactly and before I could finish I felt this calm prompting to ask her if she would like to meet with missionaries, so I did! And she said YES! Basically, what I'm trying to say is that it was very cool experience. We went on to talk for about 20 minutes about the church and how much it can bless her and improve the quality of her and her daughters lives. I looove being a missionary :)

    We had a baptism on Saturday for Brooke and her confirmation on Sunday, it went so well! We had been notified that the El Cajon Zone missionaries were coming to see an example of a "quality baptism".. no pressure at all ;) So we did our best and planned every detail as to not allow for any mistakes. I was praying that it would be memorable for her, apparently I need to be a little more specific with God because I meant memorable for being so spiritual! Haha there were a few last minute changes to the program which I think through off our ward mission leader a bit. Well so there were some slip ups, but nothing that withdrew the spirit. It was truly one of the most spiritual experience I've had on the mission. Brooke was glowing and the presence of the spirit was undeniable. I will remember it forever. Sister Stott and I got to the stake building early so we could help in any way. We had scheduled an appointment with a guy right before it so we had a short lesson and afterwards helped set up and get everything ready.The baptism began and there were a few glitches, but the thing that I'm amazed about is now that it's been a few days since the baptism- I can't even remember those "glitches". All I can remember is the incredible feeling that presided that ordinance, it was amazing. It's an incredible thing to feel the spirit like that- to have that confirming witness of the spirit that this really is the Lords work, that this really is true, that the Lords hand is involved in every aspect of our lives. The baptism was wonderful!

     Everything is going pretty good, nothing I can even begin to compain about. I feel so blessed to be on a mission, it's the best thing EVER, I absolutely love it! I've never before experienced this kind of joy that comes from giving my whole heart and mind to the work and seeing the change that comes into others lives because of it. And even if they don't accept it, things are still good and the work continues on :)

     I love you all so much and I hope you have a great week! Below is a little part from a talk that my companion shared with me this morning- I love it. It's called The Greatest Generation of Missionaries by Elder Ballard. It's a little long, but please take the time to thoughtfully read it. We need YOU.

"...today we are fighting a battle that in many ways is more perilous, more fraught with danger than the battle between the Nephites and the Lamanites. Our enemy is cunning and resourceful. We fight against Lucifer, the father of all lies, the enemy of all that is good and right and holy. Truly we live in a time of which Paul prophesied, when “men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy,

“Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good,

“… lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God;

“Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away” (2 Tim. 3:2–5).

Does this sound familiar? To me it sounds like a night of prime-time television.

These are “perilous times.” We battle literally for the souls of men. The enemy is unforgiving and relentless. He is taking eternal prisoners at an alarming rate. And he shows no sign of letting up.

While we are profoundly grateful for the many members of the Church who are doing great things in the battle for truth and right, I must honestly tell you it still is not enough. We need much more help. And so, as the people of Ammon looked to their sons for reinforcement in the war against the Lamanites, we look to you, my young brethren of the Aaronic Priesthood. We need you. Like Helaman’s 2,000 stripling warriors, you also are the spirit sons of God, and you too can be endowed with power to build up and defend His kingdom. We need you to make sacred covenants, just as they did. We need you to be meticulously obedient and faithful, just as they were.

What we need now is the greatest generation of missionaries in the history of the Church. We need worthy, qualified, spiritually energized missionaries who, like Helaman’s 2,000 stripling warriors, are “exceedingly valiant for courage, and also for strength and activity” and who are “true at all times in whatsoever thing they [are] entrusted” (Alma 53:20).

Listen to those words: valiant, courage, strength, active, true. We don’t need spiritually weak and semicommitted. We don’t need you to just fill a position; we need your whole heart and soul. We need vibrant, thinking, passionate [member] missionaries who know how to listen to and respond to the whisperings of the Holy Spirit. This isn’t a time for spiritual weaklings. We cannot send you on a mission to be reactivated, reformed, or to receive a testimony. We just don’t have time for that. We need you to be filled with “faith, hope, charity and love, with an eye single to the glory of God” (D&C 4:5).

As an Apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ, I call upon you to begin right now—tonight—to be fully and completely worthy. Resolve and commit to yourselves and to God that from this moment forward you will strive diligently to keep your hearts, hands, and minds pure and unsullied from any kind of moral transgression."

Anyways, I just loved that so much- and what do ya' know.. it's all true, imagine that. Again, I love you :) I hope that you have a good week, make it a great week! A week of trying your hardest and being better than last week.
With all my love,
Sister Kimaree Miller