Good morning!! It was SOO good to hear from everyone on the phone the other day... well almost everyone! You all sound like you're doing so well, it brought a smile to my face, I just LOVE YOU!

   This last week was another GREAT one! We went caroling and I loved it! One house that we randomly caroled to was SO NICE! We were in the neighborhood caroling to our investigator and as we were walking back to our cars (us and the elders) one of the elders stopped and said, hey how about we go carol to them (a house down the street with Christmas lights on). So we walked over, picked a few songs, knocked, and started singing. Some people came to the door and were so happy to see us! They just smiled and danced as we sang, it was so cool! After we finished singing, they invited us in for some pumpkin pie (at this point we were wondering... are they members? They are oddly nice to us and inviting. We went in and talked and ate pie, they were soo NICE! It was a mom and dad with their grown children with their families in town for Christmas. The mom had a little exposure to the church but not much, her stepson is a member and went on a mission... (I didn't understand the whole story). The husband tried to offer us some coffee which the woman quickly corrected him telling him we don't drink coffee and to grab the sparking cider instead. We had a great conversation and they agreed to receive a Christmas dvd from us, which we told the sisters who's area we were in to return with the DVD and meet them. Caroling is one of my favorite things to do during Christmas time, what an easy way to bring the spirit into someone's home. 

   Terrell is preparing to get baptized this weekend! He wasn't able to come to church this last Sunday because he had a lot of family come into town. We talked with him last night to set up another time to meet, after setting a time we got off the phone. A minute or two after hanging up, he called back and asked if we were still on for him getting baptized this weekend, We told him we are excited for him to take this step and that there's just some things we need to go over with him so that he is prepared. Haha it was just so great to hear his enthusiasm in his voice! 

    We had a great lesson with Casey last night, we shared with him Heavenly Fathers plan for us. We used a diagram to help him understand, as it can be confusing for the first time! But he had some great questions, and I could tell her was really trying to reason through and understand it. He's preparing for the 9th, however he's been struggling to come to church, he likes sleeping in! So we bore testimony about why we go to church and how it helps us. First of all, it's a commandment from God! Second, we are able to feel the spirit and receive direction for our life and answers to prayers. He said he would really try and come... please keep him in your prayers!

    This morning in my personal study time I was reading in 2 Nephi 25 and something that caught my eye in verse 8 and verse 23 is how Nephi is bearing testimony of the importance of these scriptures he says, "..they shall be of great worth unto them in the last days...wherefore, for their good have I written them." and then in verse 23 he says "For we labor diligently to write, to persuade our children...to believe in Christ..." The Bible AND the Book of Mormon are specifically for our day and how we must treasure them... they labored hard so that we might have them to study and learn, so that we may all believe in Christ. In the Mormon Battalion tour that I take people through, we show the backpacks that they carried for their personal items, it's about 2 ft by 1 1/2 feet and 3 or 4 inches in depth... not big, especially considering they were out marching for an entire year! But one of the things each of the men brought were their scriptures, they prized and treasured them. It makes me evaluate my own life... when we travel we have multiple suitcases, each one much bigger than this small bag that they brought... yet do we bring our scriptures? I didn't... will I from now on? HECK YEAH! These are "of great worth..." This personal study time that I have each morning, starts my day of right, I am spiritually nourished and strengthened. I couldn't imagine starting a day any other way. Anyways, I'll step down from my soapbox...

     I love you all soo much! I hope you have a great week! You are all in my prayers. Thank you again for all you do and the support you give me. I hope you have a good day!!

I love you!

Sister Mliler

MERRY CHRISTMAS!! (SOON)
   I can't believe Christmas is this week... I'm so excited! Besides
the actual Christmas day, this whole season is just soo GREAT! We have
planned to go caroling Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. At these
places we'll be going we will give them a package that has Christmas
DVD's, family proclamation, picture of Christ, and some goodies... and
we might share the story of Luke 2, we still have to get the details
planned out. What a wonderful season!! It truly is the best time of the
year :) especially on the mission. I love it!
   OSCAR GOT BAPTIZED the service went so good! When we pulled up to
the church building at 11:15 (the baptism was at 12) Oscar was already
there! We talked to him for a bit, he told us his mom was making up
excuses and that she wouldn't be coming today... and none of his other
friends he invited came either :( but a lot of the ward was there, so
he had a good support group. It was so great to see everyone there!
Prior to the actual ordinance Oscar just kept looking over to us and
smiling :)  AND guess who came and surprised me, BROOKE! I love her,
Her and Sean are getting sealed on June 4th.. and well I really want
to come back down for that. Anyways, the service went well and the
spirit was so strong. What a memorable experience.
  The Christmas party went GREAT! There were about 15 nonmembers
there and then at church on Sunday for Bring a Friend day, there were
16 nonmembers there (and not even the same ones that came to the party
the night before!) Things in the ward are going so good, we've
received so many miracles lately. The ward members are being
courageous and inviting their friends, and their friends are being
receptive and supportive of learning more. I wish I could go in better
detail, I'm just short of time.
   We also has a big training yesterday and then again today, it was
soo good! I wish I could tell you all about it... someday. Well I love
you all I hope you have a very Merry Christmas! I'll be talking to
some of you soon!
I love you!
Love,
Sister Miller

Merry Christmas!! (soon)

   Things are going soo good down here! There weren't any changes as far as Sister Stott and I go... we are still together, that makes 8 months of being together and 9 months of serving in the Helix singles ward! I love staying in one area for this long and with one companion... it's the best! So no "divorce" and we both get to enjoy having a Christmas tree this season :) 

   Oscar is getting baptized on Saturday!! He is the best friend of a recently reactivated member in our ward, Hugo. Hugo will be the one to baptize him, they are both so excited, and of course we are too! This last Sunday our bishop announced it in sacrament and made him stand up and everything :) He is so cool! He asks great questions, and it really helps that his best friend is HUGO who is always there to answer questions and even reads the Book of Mormon with him. Oscar even gave a Spanish Book of Mormon to his mom and he later walked by and saw it out on her bed... hopefully she's reading it!! We taught him the Word of Wisdom and he mentioned it will be hard because his entire family drinks at family gatherings and they have coffee every morning. In our lesson with him he said that he is willing to sacrifice it for the blessings of our father. He calls us every now and then (between appointments) and tells us just how happy he is and just to talk, we're friends, it's awesome. Last night at the FHE activity Oscar and Hugo got out the baptismal jumpsuits and were trying them on :) They are so excited! I'm just so grateful for the opportunity that I've had to share with him these restored truths and give him answers to his questions that he's wanted for so long! I can't help but just grin when thinking about his progression in life in making these covenants.

    This last week the mission has a whole has set a goal to have 100 baptisms in the month of January. And you see, we have a rocket scientist (literally) who serves in the mission office and he has figured with the statistics of previous months, if we want to meet our January goal then we need to find 1000 new investigators this month, so that's about 15 per companionship... I'm so excited!!! With fasting, pray, and hard work I know we can reach this goal... and it would be helpful if you helped us out in this effort as well. It's great to be united in such a wonderful cause of the truth rolling forward to all the nations. This coming weekend we are having a "Bring Friends Day" and the ward mission leader has set a goal of having 50 nonmembers there. We will have a christmas program for sacrament meeting then following the classes we will be having a big potluck, we have planned a lot and now I just hope and pray that everything will go smoothly and as planned. We are banking on have our bulk of investigators for this month found at this activity!
   I love the quote, "Always grateful, never satisfied" For I am grateful for the blessings and miracles that are happening all around us in this work, but I know there is much more to be done. I am thankful that I have this opportunity to give all my time and attention to building the kingdom of God, it brings me such much joy and happiness!! I hope you all have a GREAT week and I love each one of you! God bless :)

Love,

Sister Miller

  ITS DECEMBER! Can you believe it? How does time just whip on by! Sister Stott and I rreceived ONE of the best gifts we could ever receive this Christmas season... can you guess what it is? A CHRISTMAS TREE! A REAL Christmas tree! (those in my immediate family will understand the significance in it being REAL... never ever in my life (that I remember) have I had a REAL Christmas tree... this is a journal-worthy moment.) Our 2nd counselor in our bishopric told us he and his wife always get a christmas tree for the missionaries, and so they had told us they would... but they really did it! They called us last night asking when they could drop it by our apartment! They even gave us a storage box full of ornaments... we will be decorating it TODAY! Now here's the only problem... transfers are tomorrow... hahah what are the odds, do you think anything will change in our companionship? We're going on our 8th month together! Do we stand a chance? I HOPE SO, who would get to take the tree?! Now I know there are much more important things out there to be concerned about... you know, peoples salvation. But it is funny, if one of us gets transferred it will be like a little mini divorce, we've been together for that long!

    Something that I am even more excited about than our new tree is what my personal study is focused on right now... the Saviors life. I started reading the book of Luke on December 1st and there are 24 chapters so I will be reading a chapter a day and finishing Christmas eve. Although it's only been about a week and I'm just not reading where he is performing all the many miracles... I LOVE IT! I am learning how I can be more like Him, I love it! For those of you who aren't sure where to be studying right now, feel free to catch up and join me :)

    We have been teaching Hugo's friend Oscar, he is so great! We were sharing with him how just like in the Bible God called prophets, that God has again called a prophet for us... just then I turned to the TV to turn on the Restoration DVD, Oscar turns towards Hugo and says, "Did you know that?? That there's was a prophet after Jesus?" I just LOVED hearing him ask that, YES! There was! And there's been many more since that. At the close of that lesson Hugo bore his testimony and it was just so powerful, the spirit filled the room and tears filled our eyes. There is nothing more powerful than the testimony of a member.

    Yesterday we had a similar experience with Casey. We were sharing with him the message of the restored gospel and watched the Restoration DVD, and afterward we had our recently reactivated member Justin share his testimony.... he became choked up as the spirit touched his heart... it was that DVD that helped him return to the truths of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

     Joseph Smith really was a prophet of God and he was called to restore to truth again to the Earth. And I am so grateful for the things he endured so that I can have this glorious gospel in my life, so that I can learn the correct principles that will lead me back to our Father in Heaven. The promises and blessings are real. God is real and he is ALWAYS there for us with an outstretched hand. Search his words in the scriptures. I love each of you so much! And I hope you have a wonderful week :)

Love,

Sister Miller