Letter #48

Family,

I couldn´t wait this week to find out where Josh was going! I would have never had guessed Guatemala! That is going to be some exciting times down there! I have met people here from all over South America but Guatemala not being one of them. He is going to have a completely different experience than me and that will be so awesome to hear about. Completely different side of the world than where I am at.  I feel like the culture is going to be pretty interesting there. I know in the Equador mission there are members that take care of the missionaries so they don´t get sick from eating badly prepared food, that would be nice to have there as well. I am excited for him! I can´t believe he leaves so soon! In my eyes he is leaving in about 2 and a half transfers :) I'm in the middle of my 9th right now if that puts things into perspective.

My week went pretty well. Day by day was tough, but overall it turned out fine. We didn´t have any lessons in Talavera this week but we did manage a couple in the pueblo we go to. We are teaching two new families which is a complete miracle! They are a 30 minute bus ride away but I am okay with that for sure. :) 

We have been getting into our contacting game. We've made cards to draw and everything. I don´t know if I can go another day in the streets again though. It gets old fast and we hardly ever recieve anything but its lo que hay. I think the holy week here is what has made it so hard. There has been big Catholic parades all week and everone is in the mood to stay to their own beliefs. The parades are called proseciones and they were very interesting. Only something that happenes here in Spain. I didn´t get any pictures or anything but I am sure there are tons on the internet. 

I gave a talk in church today. That was fun. I talked about service and missionary work and I think that it turned out well. 

For p-day Elder Mower and I cleaned the piso. It is lookng much better than it was before, I can say that much.

I got Jeff and Roz´s package last Tuesday and I loved it! It was an awesome suprise and I have been loving all the American snacks. 

I hope you are all enjoying your DC vacation! I am excited to hear what you have all done! Tell everyone that I say hi.

Love Elder Miles

#47

Hola familia mía,

I am so excited for all of you this week! One for Josh´s mission call and two that you are all going to Washington DC! This is going to be an awesome week for all of you . I have no clue of where Josh will go. I just feel like the whole world is up for grabs right now. I just know that where ever he is sent that it is going to be a calling inspired from a prophet of God. I remember being pretty nervous when I got my call but I feel like I am even more nervous for Josh, I don´t know why. I just remember everything feeling like a dream until about the 2nd or third transfer in the field haha. It is going to be weird man but its awesome. 

Some exciting things that happened this week;

-Jesus and Jorge got confirmed yesterday. Elder Mower and I did the comfirmations.

-I played the piano for sacrament meeting for the first time. I was nervous haha

-We got caught in the middle of a big hail and thunder storm while we were out on the street with short sleaves without umbrellas.

-We had a couple good visits with Fati and Wili (investigators.) They are going to get babtized soon, they just don´t realize it yet :)

-Elder Mower and I have been pretty much doing nothing but contacting for the past 2 weeks so we decided to make things more interesting. We choose who the other person has to contact. For example I had to contact everyone that had a dog with them and Elder Mower had to contact everyone with a stroller. It made the time pass a lot faster and it got us up to contact more. I just am tired of being on the street all day long. I want to teach lessons!! The work has been tough lately but we are making the best out of it. 

-Today we went bowling and wore normal cloths! I really needed a pday like that. 

Right now I am studying in 3 Nephi when Jesus comes to the Americas. From chapters 11-26 are awesome. I love reading about His personal ministry among the Nephites. Reading through these chapters it just makes clear sense and helps me to know how to teach more effectively. I encourage you all to at least read some of the chapters 11-26 while you are traveling to DC. It is almost identical to the sermon on the mount when he was with those in Jeruselem in Matthew 5 but it makes sense because they are His other sheep. The church is true and it is getting more and more true each and every day for me. Remember that your testimony will not grow unless you feed it. A member in the branch here explained the following; ´´there are two wolves in your head, a black one and a white one and they are contantly fighting eachother. If you can only feed one then the one you feed is going to win the fight.´´ Remember to feed the right wolf and always strengthen your testimony. The Lord is always ready to bless us we just have to do our part and He will do His.

Well Family I hope you all the best trip to DC! That is going to be awesome! Josh I am stoked to here where you are going man! Enjoy your trip! 

Love you all,

Elder Miles 

#46 March 31-April 6th, 2014 Happy 20th Birthday JAYDEN & ONE year mission anniversary!

 Spanish Castle - Prep. Day Photo

Dear family,

Had a pretty different week this week. I feel like I didn´t get too much missionary work done.. I went to Madrid twice, one to pick up my companion, and two to pick up Elder Harrop´s Companion. We were on the bus for a long time this week. As well as Wednesday we went to Toledo for District meeting. It was an exhausting first couple days of the week. I am getting a long with my new companion just great!  Elder Mower is awesome though! He is from Texas and has about 6 months out and is ready to work. We have already set a bunch of goals to improve our area. Now the Elders I am living with are Elder Mower, Elder Harrop, and Elder Thunell (newby.) It has been fun being with all of them. It has been more obedient in the piso and we all have a good drive to work hard and follow the spirit. 

I was able to watch conference. We live about 2 hours outside of Madrid so President let us just use the computer in our little chapel to watch it. The internet was pretty bad so it made conference pretty choppy. It was tough to stay focused becasue it would stop every 20 seconds or so but I got some good stuff out of it. I feel like they talked a lot about standing up for your faith and to be brave and trust in the Lord. I feel like it is a lot easier to stick up for the church as a missionary because I was called of God to be here, but I feel like I will definitly have opportunities to do it when I get home and I would be happy to do it. My understanding of the gosple is so much more than what it was before. It is true and really is the plan that Heavenly Father designed for us, His children. The more you study it and live it the more you can recieve personal revelation and guidance. The truth is truth. All truth comes from God. I liked that idea.

The work has been tough. For the little time Elder Mower and I had we just spent it contacting and going to lessons that ended up falling through. It has been hard to find new investigators because the lessons we set up always fall through. Pero, Al a! We will find someone soon. 

Josh, It is exciting to hear that you should be getting your mission call this next week!! I will be so excited to find out where you are going! Remember that being nervous is just natural. You will be living away from home in some foreign land for the next two years so just be ready to live that life. It is awesome. 

Thanks, Jonny for the video. That was fun to see around the house and to see your room! Your voice has gotten a little more mature man. The skate you are using is good. It is probably just a little warn out. New boards will always be better that an old one but for now using an old one is fine. You tend to bang up your first board up a little more then when you are better just because you are a little more coordinated. 

Jenna, That is cool that you are able to drive around with your friends now. You lil punk! That waffle place sounded amazing. I am going to have to check that place out in about a year or so. 

Mom, thanks for keeping me updated on everything that is going on at home. I am glad that you are all enjoying the videos that I have sent home. sorry I didn´t send one this week but I will send one in a little bit. I have been doing good. I am eating more vegetables and I probably should drink some more water. I got my hair cut pretty short today. It is a warm one today so it is nice to have a fresh cut. 

Dad, The general conference talks are awesome to read! I have been pumping through those lately. I feel like reading one of those for FHE would be cool. 

I am doing great, enjoying the mission. I am trying my best to find new people to teach. I realize that finding people to teach is part of the work as well, my least favorite part but that is okay. I love you all and hope that you have a great week! 

Love,

Elder Miles

I love getting letters

#45 March 17th & 24th

Spanish Sunset

March 17th, 2014

This week went pretty well. 

The work now is basically the same as the rest of my areas that I have had. Lots of contacting in the streets and the city lifestyle. We had to walk to our favorite grocery store and carry our groceries back to the piso. Sad life I know. I don´t really feel like the area has changed that much. I don´t really miss the car. Even though it is really convenient, it hasn´t hit too hard. My comp would tell you otherwise. 

District meeting this week went well. The president, his wife, and both zone leaders came so that they could check up on our district and take back the car. It is a pretty usual thing to happen in Madrid but it is a lot more rare to President to come out to Catilla la mancha. I gave a talk about "Talking to everyone". I was a little nervous to speak in front of president but it turned out well. I came out of that meeting empowered and ready to get back to work. I know the Lord is preparing people here in Talavera and not having the car may be a way to find them. 

I did intercambio in Toledo for 2 days. I had fun getting lost in the little spanish streets up in the old town of toledo. That city is amazing. If I were to show you cool spots in Spain on of them would definitely be Toledo.
I came back from Toledo Sunday morning just in time for sacrament meeting. (The branch here does the meetings backwards, sacrament last.) Elder Stephens and I had a baptism! Two little Spanish boys that live in a tiny pueblo of Mebrillo. That is the pueblo that there is no bus to. My comp and the DL walked there to do the interveiw which took about 4 hours. I am going to take that same stroll sometime this week. The kids that got baptized are my buddies! Little Jorge and Jesus, 9 years old.  

Jorge and Jesus Baptismal Day

The work here is going great. It would probably be really slow compaired to other missions but es lo que hay. I love the work. I have learned so much this past year. I can´t even believe that I am already at a year. I  am excited to see what the next year brings. I remember this time last year I was getting ready to hit the airport and leave. It is going to be weird to me to think of what I was doing a year ago and think of memories of the mission.

Well I hope you all have an amazing week!

Love you 

Elder Miles

March 24th, 2014

This week went by pretty fast and this week is the last one of the transfer. The main things that happened were on Tuesday and Thursday and Friday. 

Tuesday: Elder Stephens and I got a ride out to Membrillo where the two kids live who got babtized and taught a quick lesson to their family. Then afterwards we walked back on a dirt trail which took about 4 hours. I don´t know if our calculations were quite right but we think we walked 17 miles back to Talavera. It was a long walk but it was nice to see some beautiful scenery. Last week there was a bull running around where we were walking but we didn´t see it this week because they killed it. I took some fun videos and pictures while we were out there. It was a pretty big waste of time but it was fun for a one time thing. 

Spanish Kebab

Thursday and Friday we helped out with a move. There is a member that lives in Talavera, the only member that lives here, that needed help moving. We expected it to last a couple hours at most but it ended up lasting 2 whole days. We were moving stuff from the 10th floor but luckly there was an elevator. He is refurnishing his whole piso so we took everything out from tiolets to kitchen counters and we gave a lot of stuff to some members in need. It was a good long time of hard work! The next day I was completely exhausted and my comp had a really bad migrain so we stayed home for the morning. It was bad. 

The work has been alright. It has been hard to find new people to teach. We don´t have a lot of lessons here. We are working on it though! 

Something fun that we did was we took out all of our bed and put them all together on the ground in the main room of our piso. We have to have some sort of change or fun.  I have been doing better with cooking. I am pretty good at cooking fried chicken now :)   

It is weird that I am going be 20 this week. I don´t really feel like I am going to be. I don´t think anything special is going to happen, probably just a normal day in the mission.

Well I hope that everyone is doing great! I am working hard and having fun. The church is true and I am so grateful to be here on my mission! I feel kind of like I am going to be here for the rest of my life. I don´t know if that is a good or bad thing haha.

Love you all

Elder Miles

#44 March 10, 2014

It has been a pretty eventful week. We got some good news and some bad news. Elder Stephens and I set 3 baptismal dates for the  coming weeks! We have some pretty awesome investigators here. They come to church and we get along with them like friends. They even do their reading assignments and everything! I have not taught progressing investigators in a while. We did a lot of service again this week. We cleaned up the front yard of the Cucheli´s and painted their walkway. It is a night and day difference of the change with their yard. We basically used cave man tools to cut down the weeds but we had a hard days work which I enjoyed. We also painted the inside of our investigators house. The paint we used litterally consisted of this paint paste, glue, water, and milk. I was preparing to clean up a big mess in the next couple days from rotten milk but it actually turned out really nice. Painting the walls reminded me of the days of working in the basement. I hope there is still work there to do when I get home! If not I would be excited to work on the Dad´s Car. My companion worked on cars before his mission and he has peaked my interest with that :)

Bad news is that President Jackson has decided to take away the car. We visit a lot of people out in little pueblos 30  minutes away and taking the car away is not the smartest idea. I am going to respect his decision on that. We have it until wednesday. I don´t know why but the president of the area in Europe want to take out all the cars in Europe. We use the car everyday. This means no more gym, no more cool pdays.  We are going to have to take the bus out to the pueblos that have service, Membrillo where our recent converts live does not have a  bus that goes there. Elder Stephens and I are going to take a trail to their house. We are going to pack lunch and bring our music and pass through the Spanish hill to visit this family! I am excited to do that. 

I am glad to hear that everyone is doing so well at home!  I am so happy to hear that Josh is getting excited to go on his mission, Jenna is  doing so great in the church and having fun, Jonny is skating and using a typewritter. Keep on doing so awesome! Stay strong with your testimonies and stand strong in what you believe in the gospel. The church is true. I have see my testimony growing everyday that I am out here. I have been finishing up in Alma and I am getting excited to get into Heleman. The Book of Mormon is true and it brings more knowledge and understanding to all things in this life. Trust in God and his will. Sorry if this testimony was hard to read in English, it was weird not to say it in Spanish. jaja

I hope that you all have an awesome week! Sorry I was not able to write each of you  a personal letter. For my birthday I have no idea what I would want.. Sorry, I will think about it lol. 

Love you all so much!    

Elder Miles                       

#43 New Area - Talavera de la Reina

 February 24, 2014

Elder Miles & Elder Stephens

P-day in the foggy mountains

I am enjoying my new area, Talavera de la Reina. I'm getting along with my new companion and the branch seems really great. Every area that I go to seems like they are all different from the last. All different styles of work because the people are different and the size of the area is different. It is cool going out to the little pueblos in the car. It is so interesting to see how people live in little pueblos in the small villages here. The rain in Spain really does fall in the plains. There are tons of olive trees and rolling green hills in my area.  It is beautiful! We took the car up to the mountains for p-day which was very refreshing and it recharged my bateries for the coming week.

Thanks for the update on what happened at the cabin. That is so lucky that Jenna just walked away with a bruised arm. Poor Jenna. Thanks for sharing your thoughts and testimony about that experience. Prayer is very powerful! I would not know what I would be like here without prayer.

I am excited about this area. It is always fun to get to know new people and new areas. The people here are really nice and receptive. I love that about this place! Even the Spaniards will sometimes give us the time of day to stop them in the street.

My spanish is going really well. I can feel myself picking up more of an accent. The ward was excited that I can speak spanish.  It is a lot more fun to talk to people in the ward when I know what they are saying and I can resond to them. I have enjoyed being around two other elders that do not know spanish all that well. It is fun to watch them learn :) I have been able to help them a little bit.

That is amazing that you are in the young womans chior! Very slim odds! That would be cool if I were able to see it here but I don´t know If I will be able to. I am having a mission tour this Wednesday which means a  member of the Seventy's will be coming.  He will talk to us for a couple of hours! I am very excited to recieve a new boost of excitement for this work!

Thanks for all of your prayers! 

#42 11 Months

Ward Mission Leader

Arganda is doing well, sadly I am not there anymore. Both Elder Cordova and I were transferred.  There are now two new elders in the area. We said goodbye to all the ward members that we love and we packed up and left this morning. I am now in my fourth area in Talavera de la Reina which is about an hour and a half southwest of Madrid.  It is close to Toledo. We have a car here! We have a lot of people that we teach that are in little towns so the car will be useful. I am excited to be here. It sounds like the members feed us a lot and it seems like a pretty cool area. I have only seen a little bit of the area but it reminds me of Cuenca when I did intercambios. My comp's name is Elder Stephens, another kid from Idaho. He seems cool. He lived in California and was actually born in San Jose as well! His home now is just right outside of Boise. He has about a year and a half out in the mission so we are both senior companions. Time to get some work done! 

Pavones District

I am doing well. One of the members wanted to test Elder Cordova´s blood and mine.  I had pretty low blood sugar even after eating. I am going to try and eat more sugar than I guess, fine with me. My level was 118 after eating. 

It was sad saying goodbye to all the ward members. I was there for 6 months and I got to know quite a bit of them. There were some members that cried and that made me realize how much of a difference that I was able to make while I was there. It was very touching to see. I have couple places to stay here in Madrid if I ever get to come back. I will really miss all the wonderful people here.

Mom the dream that you had was really cool! I have prayed for you to be blessed with dreams like the ones you have had  a couple times before. I am glad to hear that you are being taken care of and comforted.

Thanks for all the updates on everyone! I am doing great. I am a little quiet around the new Elders I am with, which I have noticed is what usually happens with me. I am not comfortable with them yet but I soon will be.

It is always weird to be in a new area. It is exciting to see new things and meet new people. I will let you know how my first week goes here! 

Love you Mom,

Elder Miles