Letter #6

Hola Familia,

All is well here in Spain! I am leaving the MTC on Tuesday and I find out where my first area is on Monday! I am way excited to find out where I am going. I hope that I get to go up north, but I may be serving in the Pavones Mission area which is where I am right now. I will be fine with where ever I am sent, I know that the call is inspired.

I am so happy to read your emails. I wasn’t able to print them off today because there was no more ink… That made me rather upset because I love to read them throughout the week.

This past week was pretty good. Although, everything that I thought I knew about Spanish got crushed with a bomb with the subjunctive tense.  Dad you will know what I mean.  I remember you tried to explain a little bit of it when I was at home.  I am getting the hang of it though.

I am sorry that this email is kind of short this week but I will send you a letter later.  I have a little package coming in the mail for you guys. It reminded me of you so I hope that you enjoy it.

I have really enjoyed my companion Elder Berry.  He is a great guy and we get along really well.  We are both pretty easy going and have a lot in common such our music tastes.  He is really great at futbol. He played soccer a lot as a kid.  Be sure to tell his mom that he is a great guy and all is well here.  

Something spiritual I learned this week, we can overcome fear through love.  I learned that if I love to serve the people then I will not be afraid to talk to them or teach them. You can apply this in your lives as well.  Do not be afraid because the Lord loves you and will help you in hard times.

Ooh, something that is crazy about being in the field!  I discovered that I am probably going to be a trainer after my first transfer and I will be a trainer for over half of my mission.  I am excited!  That means that I am going to be a pro at teaching Spanish and I will be able to go to all the cool places in the area multiple times!  There is a huge group of missionaries that will be coming to Spain after this group i'm with.  I am just on the beginning of the wave and it is starting to curl! 

El Parque Reterio

Elder Jayden Miles and Elder Marcus Berry

These pictures were taken in the El Parque Reterio. Everyone comes here to just hang out and get sun.  A lot of people just lay out on the grass in their swimsuites and sunbath. The only place I can think of that compares with this park is Central Park in NYC.  I love this park though its so peaceful and friendly.  We go proselyting in this park aswell.  The people that are just hanging out on the benches are golden because they will give you the time of day to have a conversation.

Prado Museum

This picture was taken infront of the Prado Museum of art. We didnt actually get to go in but it is pretty cool on the outside :P The line was way too long and we didnt have enough time.  I plan to go there sometime during the mission though for sure. The Prado is the second largest art museum in Europe, behind the Louvre. Since we spent so much time in the Louvre I am excited to go to the Prado sometime.

The park

This second picture is in the park again. This is the famous picture that you find when you look up Spain Madrid on google images.  It is such a cool park. I would chill here all day if I wasn´t on a mission :P

Dont send any letters to me in the mail until I send one with my new address. I am leaving the MTC this Tuesday and I don´t want anything to get stuck here in the MTC. I think I'll get to email home on Monday to inform you on where I am going though!!

The mission is getting harder than it was the first couple of weeks but I am learning so much! I love this Gosple.  It is so worth it to serve a mission and it is only the very beginning for me!

Thank you for all your love and support! I love you so much!

Que tenga un buen día :)

Elder Miles

P.S. Happy Birthday Mom!! I hope you had a wonderful day! You are the best Mom that a kid could ask for.  Thank you for being my best friend and thank you for being so fun to hang out with.  Thank you for raising me the way I have become. 

I love you!

Letter #5 

I have a letter coming your way! I figured that I could use my 30 minutes of computer time uploading pictures :) 

Me and my companion Elder Berry

Everything is going well here. I am working hard and feeling the spirit.  I love getting your letters, they make me so happy and they keep me going throughout the week.  I am having fun with all the other Elders here.  We play fútbol and workout and mess around by teasing each other.  Me and my buddy, Elder Weixler draw stupid pictures of weird faces and give them to  Elder Curtis. It is so funny and it helps relieve the stress. 

This week I basically studied. The language is getting tough.  We really dived into the meat of things this past week.  I need to keep studying so much more. I know and can feel that the Lord is helping me learn at a much faster pace.  There is no way that I could have learned this much in the same amount of time at home.

Loving all the art and the sculptures!

This picture is from Sol.  It's a really cool place with tons of people! This is where most people go to do their souvenir shopping in Madrid. 

P-days are nice to get out and about to see the city and the people!

These two photos are from the Real Madrid Stadium. I went there a couple weeks ago.  I can´t really remember because the days here have all molded into one :P The Stadium was really cool. I play fútbol sometimes during activda fisica. I am not that good but I enjoy it. Every once in a while I surprise people with a nice boot across the field.  Most the time we play on a cement court.  It is a lot smaller then the grass field but it is a lot more action packed!

Love you all!!

Letter #4

Dear Family,

It´s another P-day already!! The time here is flying by so fast! Has time felt fast over there?
My week was pretty great. I did a lot of language and scripture study.  Confrence was great! I took a lot of notes on each of the talks.
I hope everything is going well at home! Thank you so much for keeping me updated on everything you guys are doing.

Last P-day I went to the Real, Madrid Stadium! It was really cool. We were able to take a tour through the whole thing, including the locker rooms and the field.  I definitely have a better appreciation for soccer the next time I watch a game.  I took some great pictures so don’t worry about that.

I went proselyting again in Goya, which is the city.  Once again not very much success.  The city is so much harder than the park.  People know who we are on the streets and they know that we want to talk religion.  Most of the people here are either atheist or catholic.  I was temporary companions with Elder Eskleson.  We had a good time just walking the streets and saying "hi" to everyone we came across.

Conference was awesome, I will give you the highlights of what I picked up in each talk.

Packer: Times are getting worse
Davies:Build on a firm foundation
Dalton: Be an example
Carden: God forgives
Ballard: Priesthood Power/ We have unlimited potential
Eyring: Serve the Lord and in result we will get blessings
Hales: Be a faithful priesthood hold, Armor of God
Callister: Priesthood/ The right to have revalation
Beck: Ministry: Act as if you were Jesus Christ would
Uchtdorf: Priesthood titles

There are more notes but I don’t have much time left… I went into conference wanting to know the pure love Christ.  My prayer was answered. As I was listening to conference I looked out of the window and saw people walking on the street.  My heart literally ached because they were missing out on what the prophet of God was saying to all the people on this earth. I truly wanted them to come into our classroom and listen.  We watched conference on a recording since there is a time difference.  We were able to watch Sunday sessions live at 6 pm Spain time.  I imagined what you guys were doing at home.  My guess is that you were all having a delicious breakfast together and enjoying each other's company. 

Keep me updated on everything!
Josh: I want to know how debate, work, your bass and your driving is going.
Jenna: let me know what you are up to and write me what you did every week
Jonny: let me know about the news on the lizard. That story you shared with me was hilarious about the lizards!
Mom and Dad: let me know how work and the family is going.  What shows are you watching? Just your average day to day stories and fun.

I love you all and I want you to know that the church is true and time is flying by in the MTC.  I am leaving the MTC April 30^th and then I am going to be put in the field.

Love you,
Elder Jayden Miles

Letter #3

Dear Family,

Thank you so much for your emails. They mean soo much to me to hear from you.  Keep emailing me please ;)

I sent you a letter in the mail on Monday so hopefully you will be getting it today or tomorrow.  I answered some questions that you guys had.  I am not reading your emails that you have most recently sent because I don´t have time on the computer to read them and respond.  I will give you a brief summary of my past week and I will try to write a more personal letter through the mail.  I am really scatter brained right now so I hope that everything makes sense.

I am teaching investagators in the MTC with my companion.  They are pretend investagtors but we are to treat them like real ones.  Elder Berry and I have been teaching Miguel Luis and Edjuardo for the past two weeks since I've been here. I am already teaching lessons in Spanish!  We have commited them to baptism already.  This has been very good practice for me and my Spanish.

Last Saturday we got to go proselyting in the biggest park in Madrid.  It is huge! It is like 3 miles by 3 miles.  I was companions with Elder Jacobson.  He is from St. George. He is a cool guy and we made a good team.  I will just share one experiece that I had with proselyting in the park.  We found an old man sitting on a bench.  We weren't sure how we wanted to approach this man so we just introduced ourselves as misioneos de la igesia de jesucristo de los santos de los ultimos dias.  We began to talk to him in Spanish.  As I taught him about the Libro de Mormon, this man just peered into my eyes and I could feel the spirit as I testified to him.  We gave him a Book of Mormon and then wished him a good day.  We walked away and then realized that we should have gotten his information so that more missionaries could meet with him.  We turned back and we saw that he was flipping through the Book of Mormon.  This made me so happy!  I thought for sure that most people would just toss it to the side and continue about their day, but this old man was looking through it!  We returned to him and we asked him if he wanted to learn more.  He responded, Sí.  This was awesome. We asked him if we could get his name and number so that more experienced missionaries could meet with him.  He seemed to be super receptive to what we were telling him.  I felt so good doing missionary work and was filled with the spirit.  

The church is true and I am loving it here.  I have grown to really enjoy reading the scriptures.  If you read them with pure intent then you will feel the spirit and you will know that they were written for this day in age.

Let me know how things are going back home.  I love reading your emails throughout the week.  I print them off and read them even after I respond to them. 

I am working hard here in the MTC and the language is coming.

Thank you so much for everything. 

You are in my thoughts and prayers.

Love, Elder JJ

#2 March 28, 2013  Happy Birthday Jayden!!

Hello my family!

Thank you so much for the warm birthday wishes!  Thursdays are my Pdays just so you guys know.  I am glad that I have a PDay on my Birthday. I was able to go do a session at the Temple this morning and it was great. Thank you so much for the candy and that awesome blanket!! Me and my roommates think it is so cool.

My companion is Elder Berry.  We went to High School together and lives over by Summit Academy in Draper! He is an awesome guy and we get along pretty well. My roommates are Elder Larsen and Elder Wiexler.  They are some of the funniest guys that I have ever met.

Things are going very well in the CCM(Español).  There are probably around 60 Elders and hermanas here. We are all brand new and this is the largest amount of missionaries that the Spain CCM has had.  Most of the Missionaries here are from Utah!

I have had some amazing experiences here in Spain already.  Last Thursday we all got to go down to the center of Madrid and proselyte to random people on the streets.  It was very hard. I know barely any Spanish and a conversation is very difficult to have when I can barley understand them.  It was a very humbling experience because lots of the other Elders and Sisters got to place Book of Mormons but me and my companion didn’t have any luck with talking to someone for more than 30 seconds.  I loved being in the city though and my love for the country and people grew that day.

I gave my first blessing.  One of the Hermanas was sick and she asked for me and Elder Berry to give her a blessing.  We gave it with my district in our little classroom. I could feel the spirit so stongly when the words of comfort and peace poured out of my mouth.

Every night my roommates and I have a family night.  We just talk about our lives before the mission and share pictures and stuff.   That has helped me to get to know them a lot better and I have become to love them.

The Spain Temple is beautiful.  This morning while I was there I felt so close to you guys.  I felt the Love our Savior and your love for me.

Some scripture that I really like and have been using to teach. 3^rd Nefi capitulo 11 y 2^nd Nefi capituloo 31.  We have had the opportunity to teach fake investagators.  Elder Berry and I have to prepare a lesson in Spanish and teach two of our teachers like it  is a real situation in the field.  Our teachers are really in character and it is very hard to but I love it.  It has been very good practice.

I hope that all off you are doing well.  You are all in my prayers, morning evening and night.  I know that the Lord is with you and He loves you.  I have missed you but I know this is where I am supposed to be.

I love you guys so much and I can´t wait to talk to you next Thursday.

It is really hard to send letters for me because it is a 15 minute walk down to the Correos to get stamps and I don´t have any time to go down there.  The MTC is an open campas which is super cool.  I am so glad that I am not stuck in the Provo MTC…

You are welcome to send letters in the mail but it is difficult for me to respond to them other than EMAIL.

The Lord is with you and I love you.

Love Elder Miles

#1 March 19, 2013

¡Hola mi familia!

I have made it safe to the Madrid MTC.  It was sad to leave but I was immediately comforted by those around me in the security line. One man congratulated me on my call and gave me twenty dollars and told me to go get myself something nice to eat! There were about 15 there elders and 4 sisters on my flight from Paris to Madrid.  Everything went very smoothly with me and getting on the airplanes and going through customs.  The flights felt very long but I was able to sit next to my new buddy, Crayton. I do not remember his fist name.. We have a ton in common. We both are way into music and he skateboards and longboards.  

After we all got our luggage we were picked up from people that work at the MTC. When we were picked up all our drivers spoke was Spanish. They can speak English but they chose to make it very difficult for us. I loved it though, I am so excited to learn the Spanish language. 

I have been at the MTC for about 4 hours now and I have loved it so far.  We first had a language evaluation and I think that I did pretty well. The evaluation was to decide what level of Spanish class to put me in.  I also had an interview with one of the MTC´s presidency counselor. That went well.  I am sharing a room with 5 other Elders.  The room looks exactly like they do on LDS.org.  Sorry I am probably all over the place and I hope it is not to annoying to read.

All of the missionaries that I flew out with were from Utah!! It´s crazy that there are so many that are serving in Spain.  We have all gotten along very well and we are all excited. 

I ate a delicious authentic Spanish meal.  I still do not know how to describe the Spanish food but I will work on that and give you a description later.

I am not sure who my companion is yet and I don´t know how I can send pictures yet but I think I will find out tomorrow. 

I miss you guys but I am having a great time and don´t worry about me too much.  I love you all very much!! I am so excited to update you on all of the cool experiences that I am going to have.

I am safe and I am having an awesome time.

Love you all,

Elder Jayden Miles

Thank You

I had my Farewell talk at church today.  I feel satisfied about giving it. I am so excited for the 19th to leave to Madrid and start serving! I would like to thank all of you who came and supported me today, it really meant a ton to me that you came.
I want to let my parents know how much I love them.  They are the best parents a kid could ask for. They are my best friends. I am going to miss them an incredible amount but I know that I am doing the right thing by leaving for two years.
Mom, I love you. I am so appreciative of all the things that you have done for me. I can not even begin to list off all things that you have done for me throughout my life! I love you so much, Mom. I am going to make sure that you get my letters and take good pictures in Spain for you. It feels like the whole family is coming with me like our last Europe trip but i am going alone and I could not have asked for a better mother to raise and prepare me to serve a mission.
Dad, you have been such an awesome example to me of what kind of man that I want to be when I grow up. I want to be as hard working, loving, caring, thoughtful, and spiritually strong as you one day.       You are the best dad in the whole wide world! I am going to miss you so much too. I hope that I will have some exciting stories to share with you and Mom.
I am sorry for those who are not my Mom and Dad that are following this blog but i just want to publicly let them know how much I love them. My parents are very important to me and I want everyone to know that.
I am leaving soon. I have my plane ticket, my visa, my passport and I am ready to get on that jet plane.