Letter #74 Last Letter

I love you guys! 

I love your emails and your excitement for me to come home. My feelings are so jumbled up right now. I kind of feel similar to what I felt like when I was leaving to come on my mission. I am kind of wimpy and tender :P I gave my last talk in Sacrament Meeting as a missionary. I didn´t want to but I had to say that I only had one week left. My talk notes covered only about a 4th of a page of paper haha. I felt like a little bit like a veteran missionary. I don´t get it, I am in the groove of things. I have a strong testimony and I am loving everything about the work.  Am I just realizing this because my time is short? For those reasons I feel like the mission has to come to an end. If it never ended... I feel like I would not take the time to look back and reflect on how far I have come. I am grateful for the things that I have been realizing over the past week or so. 

I can´t wait to see you guys! I told Josh that I wish that the Millenium would come already so we could all just be together, you and the people that I have met here. When that time comes it is going to be so incredible! So many memories to talk about and so many things to catch up on. Fuah!! I can´t even imagine how happy everybody will be. 

This week Elder Heslington have been enjoying some new MOTAB CD´s. There is one where they sing songs like, Wayfarin´Stranger, Peace Like a River, and Swing Low Sweet Chariot. It is the best! We have been playing those over and over and even when we go to sleep. 

 There is a family that the other Elders in B4 are teaching and one of the brothers has around 6 nice guitars! Fenders and Gibsons. He and I also got to jam a little bit on the guitar together. We both played on Fender Telecasters. It was a good little prep to the real world for me, it was a TENDER MERCY :) 

Had a miracle on the Metro. I was reading the Book of Mormon and wondered if anyone would be brave enough to ask me what I was reading. Because I assume that it is a strange sight to see some foreign kid dressed nice reading a mysterious Book. We got off and then about 2 hours later we were back on. I was reading again and a woman asked me if I had another Book and I handed mine right over. She said that her daughter took hers and told her to get a new one haha. So cool!! We got talking and we got her reference. It was such a cool experience. God knows our thoughts and he is a God of miracles. 

Well to answer Mom´s questions:

1. My camera is doing fine and a new SD card would be great to bring! 

2.I don´t even know what clothes I have at home. Maybe another pair of pants and a shirt. 

3.I have 2 pieces of luggage and a carryon

I will see you soon and I hope that you have a great week! Fly safe and be ready for an adventure Mom and Dad. 

Love you

Elder Miles

Letter #73

Dear Familia,   

The thought of me coming home has been very bittersweet. At times more bitter than sweet. I feel like I have so much more to do and learn but at the same time I am super excited to see all of you. 

All I can really do is just keep going and appreciate the time I have left. I am really excited about Mom and Dad coming out. I am going to La Plaza de España today to go and check it out :) The Tapas that Dad mentioned are the best haha. I like la empandillas :) 

I am glad to hear that everything is well at home. I was surprised to hear about Dad´s knee surgery but that is cool that he finally got that fixed. Now he is going to be even stronger than that doctor though! Sounds like Jenna had an awesome time at the Sweethearts dance. I wish she would have asked me to go to that!  The go-karting, jimmy johns, buca de pepo! Snap! There was a valentines dinner for the couples in the ward on Saturday, but I didn´t go because my comp did not invite me...ha ha! 

I learned some things about Josh´s area! I met a guy named Victor from Guatemala and I told him that you were in Xela! He told me how awesome it is there! He says that he lives a couple hours away but that he goes there every year to visit. I also stopped a guy on the street that turned out to be from Xela mismo! I told him that Josh was there and then he whipped out his phone and showed me a picture of the city and said,"That´s where your brother is!" Haha, it was so sweet! We were going to teach him yesterday but he didn´t show up to where we were going to meet. He is going back to Xela this week and I really wanted to pass the reference to Elder Josh but he just has the number from Spain. 

Well I hope that everyone has a great week! Take care mucho and I will talk at you next week :) 

Elder Miles

P.S. One of my new favorite foods is la Salteña Boliviana :) Empanada filled with Caldo (Stew) 

P.S. I met an American that was in the ward yesterday that served in Uruguay! I told him that Dad served there and he thought that was pretty cool. 

P.S Jonny! Keep it up with the drums and I can´t wait to Jam with you man 

Letter #72

Feb. 9^th, 2015

Hey family!

Another week has flown by! Mom you´re right, its a bloomin speed clock!! haha I am trying my best to stay focused and work had all the way up until the end. That was a goal of mine ever since I got on the plane to come out here. 

It sounds like everyone had a great week this week. A good ole Root Beer Float sounds really good right now even if it is pretty chilly out. We saw snow this week! None of it stuck and it was not very much but it was fun to see. I laughed hearing about Jonny shooting an AK47 and a hunting rifle, only in America, or is that just a Utah thing? That would be pretty absurd to hear about in Europe haha. AMERICA! 

Thank you all for your awesome weekly updates :) 2 more email sessions left, that freaks me out a little bit. No me lo puedo creer... 

This week went pretty well. Elder Heslington and I sure do get along well. It seems like we cant get through a planning session without laughing about something stupid that happened during the day. We tried to make some Arroz con Leche last night. I am not sure what we ate but it was not Arroz con Leche.. haha 

This week my faith and religion was tested. Not in a spiritual way with some sort of trial and lesson that lays behind it, but in a very literal way. We had 2 lessons this week of which the people we taught were very confused and misinformed about the church. I was questioned if I wasn´t sure if I was the one in Apostasy. They brought up things that cannot be proven without faith and experience, such as the Book of Mormon and Joseph Smith being false and based off other practices. They were very interesting visits and I tried my best to keep the spirit of Contention down. At some points I felt as if we were just men arguing but I had to bring it back to the testimony that I treasure. If I have learned anything from those experiences it is that I know with even more assuredly that the church is true and that it is lead by a Prophet of God. There is opposition in all things and we need to have a strong testimony to defend the truth. I love the Gospel!

Carmela is doing fine. We helped her out with a doubt about the 10 commandments. She is awesome because she is always so grateful for our visits. 

Hector is doing well too. We invited him to be baptized again but he still does not feel ready. He will be baptized but it is just a question of when and when he does he is going to make an awesome member! 

Had another cool experience is following the spirit this week. I read a scripture to a man on the street that was burdened down with sin and guilt. When I read the verse I looked up and his eyes were teary. The spirit works in amazing ways! 

Love you guys and I hope that you have a great week! 

Love Elder Jayden Miles

Letter #71

Feb. 2, 2015

Hola mi querida familia,

Calle San Vicente is right in the center, that is will be a really cool area to stay in :) I will be able to navigate us pretty well around those streets. Right I am living in the North East part of Madrid, called Hortaleza. My address is Calle Opon 2: 1 Izquirda zip:28033. B4 doesn’t have any of the center where we are staying but if we wanted to we could take line 8 up to Mar de Crystal and have a Kebab with Elder Heslington :) He said that he would be fine with that. I don´t think there would be any troubles with that. I will ask the president later though. 

This week went pretty well. We were able to visit with Carmela and invite her to baptism. She needs to receive an answer but more like she needs to recognize it. She notices a different feeling of joy and peace and a burning in the heart. That is a huge step! She told us that she went to the medic to figure out why she has been having a burning in her heart because she didn´t know where is was coming from. I thought that was great :) Hector is another one that we need to get baptized. He has known the church all his life but he just has not been baptized. We finished teaching him everything and now it is time for him to act! All the members that know him are tired of him not being baptized haha, mejor dicho, they want him to have that blessing in his life. 

This week we had a cool experience with prayer. We decided to talk to a woman that was sitting on bench. She doesn´t believe in God and she has had deaths in her family and she figured that this life is just to suffer. We told her about the Plan of Salvation and I bore her my testimony that I know that she will see her family again. I wanted to leave her with a prayer so we explained how we pray. She knew a memorized Catholic prayer like the majority of people here. I prayed for her and her family and to help this woman know that God exists and that she will see her loved ones again. I ended and she said amen and to my surprise, when I raised my head she had tears falling down her face. She felt the spirit. It was a really cool experience. I felt so grateful for the opportunity to be apart of that. I don´t feel like I did anything but be in right place in the right time. 

Today for Pday we went to el Parque de Retiro to hang out for a bit. We went with 3 members that are our age. After we went to a burrito bar to eat. It was very similar to Chipotle. It was fun to be with us 4 Elders and the other 3 members :) 

Sounds like the Patriots won the Superbowl. My comp is a fanatic of American Football haha. He was waiting all week to find out who was going to win because the Patriots are his team! He lived in the states for 2 years so that is why. 

I have listened to the same talk that you mentioned to me a couple times as well. I have the conference talks from last conference on a zip drive and I like to listen to them every once and a while. Hebrews 6: 10-11,18-19 is the scripture that I have been implying to my life right now. I have been enjoying reading teachings from the prophet books. It has been cool to see how the prophets were qualified to be who they have become for the Lord! 

Well I hope you all have a great week!! Love you and take care mucho.

Elder Jayden Miles

Letter #70

January 12, 2015

Hello family! 

Well I am just going to jump into what happened this week. I am tired again! 

This week went well. We were able to see a lot of people that we have not been able to see in a little while. We found some new people to teach which I am excited for that. Elder Heslington and I are doing great. Something that I like about our companionship is that we are constantly trying to improve our efforts. Sometimes it is easy to slow down and complain when things don´t go as planned but we just keep on keeping on. 

Something cool that I saw this week. We are teaching a family that has been having troubles with alcohol. We had a lesson on the word of wisdom and the Dad, who is the one who drinks.  He understands that he needs to stop but the lesson was crazy. He was arguing with his wife and blaming everything on her. It was sad to see and I tried to show compassion to his wife so she understood that we were on her side getting him to quit. We had a lesson with them 2 days earlier and it was completely different. The spirit was really strong and everyone was chill and it was just amazing. I know that the gospel blesses families. We are working with them for baptism and most of all getting a testimony of the Book of Mormon. There was just such a big difference between the two lessons and it was a miracle for me to see. 

One of our investigators decided to come to church yesterday! He had to decide whether he was going to help out with work or come to church and he decided to come to church. It was awesome to see him there. I feel like we saw progression this week.

One of the kids in our ward got his mission call and he wanted to open it up with just his family and us 4 Elders there. He is awesome and has been waiting for this call since I got here. He helps us out with visits and stuff and we are good friends. It was cool to see that excitement. He is going the Spain Malaga Mission and leaves in April. He announced this call to all of his other friends later that day just how I did mine. 

We went to Toledo today. That is a cool city. I have been there a lot now but I am excited to show Mom and Dad. 

Jenna: Congrats on the patriarchal blessing and on the service trip! That so cool that you are going to Cambodia. When are you leaving and for how long? 

Josh: Keep on working hard man. It seems like you are enjoying the mission life. 

Jonny: Hope school and stuff is going well. sent me a pic of you hitting up a box on your skiis :) 

Mom and Dad: I love you guys! The coolest Parents that I could ever ask for! 

Pday goes by too fast sometimes haha.. Well back to the old grind.

Love you all!   Elder Miles