Oh my goodness we had a PHENOMENAL week!! Seriously, it was amazing! So thank you so much for your support and prayers :) we definitely experienced the blessings and miracles that we (the investigators) needed.

   Man I don't even know where to start... alright so I'm just going to jump into, everything will probably be out of order so don't mind that at all.

   Alright so this past week we've been meeting again with this less-active/recent convert from last year. (I think I've mentioned him before) he's the one that doesn't really remember anything he was taught from the missionaries... which we were completely boggled about, how can you forget all of that! Alright well we found out on Sunday that he was never confirmed! Which answers a lot of our questions... of course he doesn't remember anything, he wasn't given the gift of the Holy Ghost. We talked with him about it and apparently he felt pressured into getting baptized and he didn't want to be mean by saying no. Hmm... bummer. So we've started back at square one. Because he was never confirmed and it's been so long since he was baptized, that means he has to be baptized all over again- so he's back to being an investigator. Hopefully this time around it will be for the right reasons!! Crazy though, right?

   We have also been working with another recent convert from January. She is ADORABLE, I love her so much!! She's expressed concerns with us about not knowing the Book of Mormon very well. She said sometimes she gets confused with all the different people and stories (don't we all!?!) Well, that's not a good enough answer! So Sister Stott and I have been on a quest to learn and understand the Book of Mormon better ourselves so that we can help her. It's funny how we've been taught these stories since primary.. yet we still don't feel we know it real well. So that's been our goal for the last couple weeks as we've been helping this girl. It's been so fun! I LOVE it! By the time I get back I'm going to know it so good... I hope! It's one of my goals :)

   Alright so do you remember the rollerblading guy who went to nationals for the big tournament and then fell off the face of the earth and we weren't hearing back from? HE CALLED US!! He apologized like crazy. Apparently while he was at nationals he fell in one of the races and broke his hand!! But he was still able to get up and take bronze in 8 of his races. He's a champ. So basically, he's been in and out of the hospital trying to see if they can fix it so he'll be ready by the next races. So we were able to set up a time and meet with him. We introduced the BOM and we've met with him a couple of times since and he's been reading and praying about it! He has a baptismal date for Sept. 16th! He even said, "Yeah of course I will! If not earlier, if I find out it's true sooner than that!"

   We were also able to meet with another investigator and we had a chapel tour set up. We had one of the members pick him up and meet us at the building. As soon as he walked in he said, "wow... it feels like home, it's real nice" Needless to say, it was an amazing lesson!! The spirit was so strong as we testified of the restoration, he committed to be baptized on Sept. 19th. He is so great! He's been having a lot of struggles recently and he's already recognizing the hand of the Lord and how he's already receiving blessings because he is doing what the Lord wants him to.

   This last week we've been able to meet a couple of times with the guy who's preparing to be baptized on the 5th (THIS SUNDAY!! yayyy, I'm so excited for him! He is amazing.) And he is still just waiting for an answer. He wants it to be true and he believes it could be... he's the one that his family isn't real supportive. We had a lesson though and we were able to invite a senior couple missionary to join us. Sister Thulin is a convert and had some similar struggles as this guy does so they were really able to connect and relate with one another. It was a great lesson and something I think he really needed to hear. Last night when he met he said he really is considering the 5th haha and it's not something he's just toying with, this is real. We are meeting with him again this morning and fasting with him on Wednesday so that he will recognize his answer.

   So as you can tell we had a pretty amazing week! Oh one more thing! We were able to meet with a potential investigator and invited him to come to church with us on Sunday... he said he had to ask his dad. Uh huuuh alright. You can just say no, it's ok. BUT he called us later that night and told us his dad said it was ok but that he just needed a ride! SWEEEET we're all over that and have it covered. We were able to meet with him last night too and taught him about the restoration. He was understanding it pretty well and agreed to prepare to follow Jesus Christ by being baptized by Gods authority that's been restored on the earth. His date is Sept. 26.. he is amazing as well! :)

   So you can see how many miracles there were last week! How incredible!! So we had quite a few people coming to church and even a few less-actives that randomly called us and told us they wanted to come and just needed a ride! Sooo now I have something kind of funny to tell you. Sooo we were running a little late to church and had to pick up a less-active and then go to meet a member who was picking up our investigator. So we're running behind and I'm going a little fast and next thing I know I have a dumb motorcycle cop behind me PULLING ME OVER!!!! Ahh!! NOOO we're late AND I'M ON A MISSION!! Hahah so he gets out and asked for my license (apparently I turned right at a red light and there was a sign saying we couldn't turn on red lights. LAAAAME. So I gave him my stuff and explained I'm from Montana and so I'm not used to not being able to turn on a red light. And he answered by saying "ohh yeah. Alright well that explains it." then he continues on to ask where we're headed... TO CHURCH! Haha so then he apologized for maybe making us late and let us go on our merry way. lol oh noo... I was pulled over on my mission!! How embarrassing. haha it was funny though.

   The Mobatt has been pretty rockin too!! The other night I had a lady come in with her daughter (they've been a couple of times now and keeps coming back! They aren't members by the way. and every time they come I happen to be here!) Every time she comes, she asks me questions about the Book of Mormon and the church. We usually talk for a couple of hours! And this visit wasn't anything different (except different questions) So when she got here, she pulled me aside and said.. "you know what? Every time I come my wall keeps coming farther and farther down. I think I want to join the church!" YAYY!! I love her so much- Her and her daughter- they are SO GREAT! Man really, they are amazing.

    This week has been SOOO GREAT! Our area has really been blessed and watched over by Heavenly Father and His angels. There really are people who are prepared and ready all around us... all we have to do is invite them :) The Lord is good! Thank you again for your prayers and support, it's been making a huge difference (as you can tell) THANK YOU! I love you all and I hop eyou have a fabulous week!!

Love,

Sister Kimaree Miller

Hello EVERYONE :) You are all so great. I just love you!

   Alright so this week was a pretty good week! We had a few days that we were in our area the entire day! With so many sisters now at the Mormon Battalion we are able to have more proselyting time, which is amazing!! Most of our investigators are back in town.. but let me just tell you... it STINKS having your investigators leave in the middle of meetin with missionaries, talk about their progress hitting a brick wall and haulting. Only one of those 5 investigators that went on vacation made it through with still having a desire to meet and learn more. He's sooo great! He's dating a member who just left for BYU but he still wants to meet, he has a baptismal date for Sept 5th. He's so cool! The only hold up is that his family really doesn't like the mormon church... infact they aren't supportive of it at all. But he still reads the Book of Mormon (after everyone goes to bed) and prays every night. Man, it's such a great example of truly having faith in Jesus Christ and trusting in God that a way will be provided. It reminds me of 1 Nephi 3:7... "I will go and do the things which the Lord hath commanded.."  Keep him in your prayers, his desire to do what's right and his willingness to sacrifice, continues to amaze me.  I think it's a great example for how we should all have similar desires as he does... willin to sacrifice everything for our God. And well, the other investigators really haven't called us back. But we've found some new ones and some pretty sweet referrals for the family wards! Haha things are going good.

   We had Zone Conference the other day and it was GREAT as always. President talked a lot about havin "owners" for our investigators. An owner is someone who is more than just a "fellowshipper", but someone who will grab their hand and walk them through the nerves and fears of learning more about the "mormon church". What the owner is really being asked to do is be a friend. An elder shared a really cool experience about how much an owner can really bless the life of the investigator. This investigator got jumped one night and was put into the hospital. This guy instantly thought of his "owner" and called him. The "owner" was there at the hospital with this guy for 3 hours that night helping him and just being by his side ... and it's in times like that where someone who is more than just a fellowshipper comes in handy. Someone who the investigator feels they can call and count on for more then just "church related things", but a real friend.

   Alright well I'm actually out of time. I love you all so much! and I hope you have a great week! Next week I'll write a longer one... promise.

Love,

Sister Kimaree Miller

Hello from sunny San Diego :)

   Things are going great! So transfers happened... and Sister Stott and I were pretty sure we were getting transferred. We were all sitting and ready to hear the transfers but then Elder Evans came up to Sister Stott and I and asked if we would give the new missionaries the Mobatt tour. I quietly asked... who's not getting transferred, should they do it so we are here to hear who our new companions are? And he whispered back... you two, you are staying together. SO shocker to us, we are together again! This is our 3rd transfer together, so I will have been in my area for about 5 months come the end of this transfer. Which isn't too long, just long enough to LOVE IT! Which I DO! It's the best. 
    So our investigators... they are out of town. 5 out of the 7 are... isn't that nuts? Haha I guess that happens when you serve in a singles ward and most of them go to school and are out for the summer! But so the dates they are coming back kind of vary between 1-3 weeks. So there aren't a lot of new updates concerning them!

    We had a pretty amazing meeting this morning with President Donaldson. He came so that we could all receive additional training for the tours (there are about 5 brand new sisters as of last week, and 2 from earlier that never got the training from "the brethren"), so he went over that again for us. But he also shared some new things too. President is just such a powerful speaker and he's so close with the spirit, one thing in particular that he shared with us- and I really felt the spirit strongly, is when he was talking about these the last days. He said, "What we are really doing is raising a new generation. The big battles are able to come- the final fury- Satan will unleash his powers. And we MUST be protected by the shield of faith, the sacred garment." He continued on to tell us how the brethren are getting extremely concerned for the members of the church, saying they are just too casual in all they do. And I can't help but look back to when the church was first restored, it was so new to the members- recent converts- and how they would never deny the truth and never be relaxed about it. Their faith was their main motivation in all they did, it was their life, and many laid down their life for their faith. And now we can look around and see that people just want to be "comfortable", putting money and comfort first. There is no casualness in the kingdom of God. These are the last days and prophecies are being fulfilled. He told us how South America was founded on God, but America was founded on God, country, and family first. But how in the Book of Mormon, in the end when it's talking about the last days, it talks of the Nephites going for gold, and the Lamanites going for their families and founded in God. We all need to head this small reminder- refocusing our lives on the Lord and returning back to him. These are the last days and we cannot let anything distract us from our heavenly Father. Our main motivation need to be our faith in God.

   I love every one of you and I pray for you every day. Lets all recommit ourselves and our lives to serving those around us and helping our brothers and sisters returning to live with our Father again.

With all my heart,

Sister Kimaree Miller

Hello everyone :)

     Things are going great! Guess what this week is... transfers- already!! I feel like it was just yesterday. We find out tomorrow morning who is staying and who is going. We're getting 5 new Mormon Battalion Sisters, but they are all spanish, soo the chances of my training one of them are slim to none! Of course, when I was put with Hermana Smith (who was spanish) that was a huge shocker and I didn't expect that! But Sister Stott is feeling like I'll be the one getting transferred... I don't feel one way or another. Plus, whenever we try and figure it out- we're always wrong, so stay tuned until next week :) This morning my old companion, Sister Otero, went home. Sister Stott and I drove her to the airport, it was weird and reminded me that I really only have less than 9 months left! Then we went to the store and I had to buy detergent... 36 loads... enough to last me the rest of my mission :( sad.. it's coming too fast, too many reminders!

     So this week has been a GREAT week (would you really expect anything different?) Here's a cool story for you... we've gone to our church buildings a couple times to have lessons with our members/investigators and a couple of those times there's been this guy (YSA) rollerblading around the parking lot. This time it was different, Sister Stott and I looked at eachother and said, we have to stop him and talk to him! So we waved him over and started talking with him. All he knew was that it was a church and he's interested in going inside (this was on Saturday by the way) And we told him he's more than welcome and in fact, we'd love him to come! He asked when our service was the next day and that he wanted to go! So we got his information and talked a little bit more... and what do ya' know, HE CAME!! He couldnt stay the entire time because he's heading out of town to Colorado to the olympic training center for national tournaments for speed skating... anyway... so he had to leave early, but before he left we slipped him a note. We got a call later Sunday night from him, thanking us for welcoming him in and apologizing for not being able to stay for the whole thing. He said he is excited to come back and would like to stay the entire time!! ISN'T HE SO GREAT!? We instantly loved him. He is awesome! He'll get back August 17th.

    As far as the rest of our investigators... they are going out of town left and right for summer vacations!! Andre's baptism has to be pushed back, same with Marco, and Quantail (did I tell you about Quantail? I don't think so! Well, we met with him last week and taught about the Restoration. He was accepting everything pretty good! The only thing is, he was raised baptist and believes in the trinity... miner speed bump. But he has a baptismal date and we'll be working with him towards that!)

    Oh my goodness, I have ANOTHER miracle to tell you about! We had planned as a back up to go to a former (from 2005!! Woah.) Saturday morning, but we weren't able to make it. Saturday we happened to be in her area so we decided to go then. So we knocked on the door and this girl answered (not the former) but she was so nice! This is how the conversation went. Us: Hi is Carla home? Her: No uhh.. she doesn't live here. But do you want to come in? Us: Uhh YEAH! And then we started introducing ourselves and ended up teaching her about the restored gospel of Jesus Christ. She wasn't raised in any religion and is really receptive of everything. The only struggle with her is, she doesn't understand how we can really KNOW that this is all true and not just all made up by some guy. But she prayed with us in that first lesson and she's been praying and reading the scriptures since, so she'll be getting an answer real soon... she just needs to recognize the answer! She's planning on coming to church and bringing her sister (who's in the navy and gets back from being on the ship this Saturday) Awww it was so great though, what a blessing and a miracle that we went later Saturday because when we knocked on her door she had just gotten back from work like 20 minutes ago, so she wouldn't have been home! It was meant to be.

    Sunday we fasted with Marco so that he'd be able to come to church and get an answer to his prayers. The area is definitely being blessed so much, and I feel so privileged to be entrusted with how the Helix ward is being strengthened and growing. We've found some new investigators and they are AMAZING! The only minor... ok BIG... bump in the road is getting investigators to come to church. They either HAVE to work, go out of town, or play sports on traveling teams. What's the deal! That's the main thing that is frustrating... but we're working with it and hopefully that will turn around this week!
   The less-active and recent converts work is going good, it's kind of slowed down a little. There are so many people going out of town, it's a little ridiculous and funny at the same time. Haha but we're keeping out heads up and working out hardest. But I know that as long as we are doing our part and giving it our all, we'll continue to be blessed. That's how it works right? We show the Lord that we really mean it and are sincere in our righteous desires, and he'll answer us be there to help. I know that God really is our Father in Heaven and that Jesus Christ is our brother... they love us. They want what is best for us, we need to trust them :)

   Chas is doing ok... could be better... from what I understand he kind of dropped the sisters again, so sad. I just love that kid, my heart goes out to him.

   Alright well I have to get going, it's been a wonderful week!! I love you all so much, you are always in my prayers and I hope you have a great week as well :)

Love,

Sister Kimaree Miller