#14

Spain Countryside

Feliz San Juan!!

Jenna, good work on your 4th year hike! 15 miles, wow! I´m glad you got to experience some nice alone time in the mountains. That is always a good feeling. An even better place to feel at peace is in the Temple ;) Volleyball camp would be kicking my butt! Glad you have a passion to do stuff like that.

Jonny, Mexican soda and popcorn sounds so good! When I went on intercambios last week, the elder that I was with is from Mexico and he lovesss Coca Cola hah. Wizard Jr. is already a foot long?? That thing grows quick!

Well, I will tell you a little about my week. 

Monday: Elder Birds Birthday, Bowling,

Tuesday: We got a new investigator named Roy. He is from Cuba and he has been progressing really well. We gave him the Restaución folleto and he read the entire thing including the definitions in the back! I´m excited about teaching him.

Wednesday: We got a bus card. We ride the bus a lot and it also saves the church a little bit of money if we used the tarjeta, not to mention we wouldn´t have to deal with packing a bunch of change around for the bus.

Thursday: We had another lesson with Roy which went very well. We also had a trek from one side of the city to the complete opposite. We had to walk full missionary speed to get to our next lesson on time. It was raining and we were both exhausted by the time we got to the next lesson. Now we can say that we have been on everyside of A Coruña! We also got two new investigators that day too. It is couple that have been living together for 2 years now and they are just about at that point where Elder Bird and I think they could get married! Estefaní is from the Dominican Republic and Pablo is Gallego! And they both believe in God and Pablo had lots of really good questions :)

Saturday: We went to a ward activity which was about a 20 minute bus ride outside of A Coruña. It was a great time. I played lots of Fútbolin (Fooseball), Ping Pong, Fútbol. There was a barbacoa and I ate some grilled Sardins. This past weekend was Festivo. It is called San Juan. It is a huge party all over the beaches of Spain. Everyone has BBQs which they call Churrascos and they cook up tons of meats and sardins. They are everywhere in the streets and the whole city just smells like a big BBQ.

Sunday was the actual day of San Juan! It was crazy over by the beach. everyone builds big piles of wood to burn at midnight! And these piles of wood are not small. I will include some pictures. It was cool to see so many people that all had the same plans. 

Today nothing is really open because Spain needs two days of Festivo to recover from the party from last night, so I am not really sure what we plan to do for P Day. 

Thank you for all of your updates and everything! I can´t wait to hear from you next week. :) I love you all!  I am grateful to be serving the Lord and teaching the people about His gospel.  

Love Elder Miles

Letter #13

jayden.miles@myldsmail.net

Hola Familia
Happy Fathers Day Dad!! I hope you had a great day. It sounds like all of you had fun at the new Superman movie. It will be a good one to see when I get back! Good to hear that everyone has their summer packed already with volleyball, hiking and martial arts. Sounds like it is going to be a great summer. Mom and Dad and Jenna, thanks for updating me this week on everything! I love emails :)

My Piso

This week was pretty eventful so I will list some things that have happened.

Tuesday: I had another intercambio in Ferrol but this time I was with Elder Lopez from the east coast of Mexico. I had a good time practicing all of my Spanish. I could feel the gift of tongues while we taught a couple lessons. I could understand a ton of what was going on and I could respond pretty well. The language is coming. I was accepted into a family from Argentina because I used to play World of Warcraft! haha. I guess that paid off playing that game for a couple years. It´s always funny to see how much pride people have in their characters.

Wednesday: We had a District Meeting but the buses in Ferrol were on strike and we didn´t have a way to get back to A Coruña.   So we tried hard to get there by walking to the main bus station but the next bus was leaving later than we wanted. Luckily a member drove us an hour back to A Coruña. Super nice of them! We made it back just in time to eat the Stephenson's delicious American food after the district meeting. We ate mashed potatoes and gravy and turkey! It was sooo good :) Later that day we ate at one of our investigators house. 

I have been meaning to tell you about an investigator. His name is Ion and he is from Romania! I met him my second day here & he is so awesome. He is dirt poor. He makes money from scanvenging in trash cans & fixing things to sell. There are always different people at his house & it is interesting to meet his friends. They are all from Romania, super nice people. 

Friday: The four of us Elders of A Coruña are starting English classes in order to serve the people here & to see if we can get some investigators out of it. We made flyers & have been posting & passing them around the city. I have never taught English before but hopefully it will all work out. We haven't had anyone show up yet but I´m excited to see what goes down. 

P-Day Bowling

We went to a big farewell party for a member in our branch. Her name is Fiorela and she is from Peru. The party was really fun & a lot of good little hors d'oeuvre. At the end there was a dance party. I have never wanted to dance so badly in my life! haha. All of them were so smooth! I probably sound really weird right now saying that I just watched my branch dance but....whatever. 

They all tried to get us missionaries to dance because we had a hard time standing still to the latino dance music. My branch is awesome.

Sunday: It was district conference for all the branches in Galicia in Santiago. There was no room for us to ride in members cars so the four of us Elders took the train to Santiago which was only a 40 minute ride. We had to walk about 3km to the conference center. We ended up passing through an abandoned carnival that the city must of had the night before. We got lost a little bit and ended up hiking in our suits and ties to get to this place. We came across the fútbol stadium in Santiago.  As we were walking we heard some explosions. The explosions kept getting closer and closer until it felt like we were getting shot at! We all kind of over reacted and started running for our lives! We then looked at our map again & thankfully we were close to where we needed to be. I knew that we would make it to the Conf. Ctr. safely but I would have never predicted taking the path that we took to get there. Definitly an exciting morning. The conference was really good and we had 2 of our investigators there :) I knew they felt the spirit & I am so glad that they were able to go. Sunday we also got two new investigators! Maricete and James from Brasil! James speaks Portuguese & really fast. He was very passionate about the Bible which I was glad to see because it showed that he had some potential to study spiritual things. His wife Maricete was really nice and I can totally see her progressing. I am excited about both of them.

My A Coruna Elders!

Time is flying by!  As I reflect on the days that pass I am always amazed how much work we've done. My testimony of José Smith is really growing. I have always known that he was a profeta of God but I am just so grateful for his sacrifice to help restore the Gosple. It has also helped me that I have been to his house and the Sacred Grove. I can picture the events that took place there and It is even easier for me to testify about them. 

I love this work! Two Christlike attributes that I've been working on and would love to improve is diligence and patience.

Thank you family for all that you do. Don´t forget about Family Home Evenings :) I love you all so much and I miss you. 

Love Elder Miles

Letter #12

jayden.miles@myldsmail.net

First off, thank you mom for the package full of candy and pictures! I love the pictures that you sent me with Jenna and her amazing new smile, Josh and his sword, and Jonny and Wizzy Jr. Jenna your new teeth look so awesome! You are even more beautiful than before! It sounds like everyone had a good week! Dad thank you for being such an awesome Dad. I have only followed in your footsteps to become the man that I am. You have been the perfect example for me. Thank you Mom for the Scriptures that you send me to look up. I read Mormon 9 this morning for personal study and I loved it. I love the fact that God is a God of milagros and that he will never change and that through our faith in Jesus Christ we can witness these miracles for ourselves. 

Miles Family Together Forever!

Josh, I am excited for you to leave Alta! I am not surprised to hear that you are not going to miss it even just a little. Jenna I am excited for you that you get to go to High School now and make brand new friends and go to school with Josh. Jonny I am excited for your 50 miler coming up soon! That is going to be sick. I am jealous of the weather you guys are having at home. I am going to miss the warm summer nights of just relaxing outside together as a family. The word around here is that it is going to rain a lot here. so I will be packing my umbrella and wearing my new sweater that I bought for a store called Zara. 

I forgot to tell you all about last p-day. We went down to Santiago again and played fútbol with our zone. It was way fun! We all played in an indoor court that we had connections to because a member worked there. Four Spaniard kids came and played against us. We split up into teams of four and played in brackets. I did pretty well considering the fact that I scored on one of the Spaniards! AyyyOOoo!

This week went really well. We taught a good amount of lessons in which I could feel the spirit very strongly. It´s amazing how many times that I get to feel the spirit out here. Everytime I bare testimony I feel like I am bearing testimony with the Lord´s hand on my shoulder backing me up with everything that I say. 

This week is the first week of a new transfer! I have been in the field for 1 whole translado already! Nothing happened to our district which I am happy about because I really like my distrito. The zone has had some changes but I am not quite sure what they are. This transfer I am really going to work hard on contacting in the streets. I am starting to feel more comfortable with Spanish and with talking to people. I have made a couple of phone calls in Spanish, which are near impossible to understand, so I will work on that as well. I did have a lesson where one of the people we taught told me that I understood Spanish well, so that was a good confidence booster. 

I am feeling pretty comfortable now that I am on a mission, away from home and in a different country.  I like A Coruña. There are lot of people that live in this small amount of land. The other day Elder Bird and I walked to another side of the city that we realized connected to somewhere else that we were familiar with. The city is smaller than I thought but there is still a ton of work that we have to do here.

I read a chapter in "Our Search for Happiness" this week. (By- M. Russell Ballard) That is really a great book! You should add it to your summer reading list. I read chapter 6 this week and it just made my eternal perspective grow so much more clear. Life if such a small part of our eternal existence. I am so greatful for the knowlege that we have that we are going to return to our Heavenly Father after this life. This life is Eternally important but it is so short. It is so important NOW that we develop the desire to follow Christ and obey His commandments. I can´t explain how I felt while I was reading that chapter, but I knew that there is so much more in store for us after this life!

Thank you all so much for your emails! I feel so connected to home while I read them. Keep them coming every week.

I am working hard with faith. I can feel the language coming steadily and I am excited to improve more and more. Estoy mejorando cada día, poco a poco.

I love you all so much I and I hope that you have an amazing week!

Love Elder Jayden Miles

Letter #11

jayden.miles@myldsmail.net

 Hey thanks for all of your emails! Jenna your 9th grade party at La Caille sounded like it was a fun time. The escargot that you ate sounded pretty interesting, haha. Josh I hope you had an awesome 17th birthday... even though you had school and work. Iron Man 3 was probably awesome. I know most of the movies that are coming out but it is weird that I am literally not allowed to see any of them. 
Thank you Dad for your email, you always give me strength through your words of encouragement and support.  There is a family in my branch that is from Montevideo Uruguay! We had lunch with them this last week, probably the best meal that I have had in Spain so far! We ate big chicken legs and ribs :) Thank you Mom for the letter and your advice about building relationships.  You´re sending me another package?! :) Thank you so much Mom! I freak-en love mail! haha. Now I am friends with the Correos guys instead of the UPS guys.

This week went pretty well. For P-day last week we went to a commercial center that is about a 10 minute walk from our piso. All of the stores are clothing stores. Jenna you would have had a fit, haha.  All the clothes here are so cool. I had a hard time not buying anything. I may have to splurge when I leave my mission and get some clothes. I ate the famous churros and chocolate. It was a little disappointing actually. It was still pretty good but the churros are not very sweet. I expected something a little more... unhealthy covered in sugar and cinnamon. 

I had my first Zone Conference this past Wednesday. We took a bus down to Santiago to meet there. It was really fun to see other missionaries and learn from those who have much more experience than I have.

While we were there we got to see the Santiago Cathedral which was really cool! Santiago´s center is the classic Spain you picture with the narrow alley ways, cobblestone and old architecture. I am kind of hoping that it opens up for missionaries. There is a church there but no missionaries. Technically, it is part of my area which is a hour away but, we can only go if we have a lesson. 

We have another baptismal date for the month or July!!  If all goes as planned we should have at least two or three. I´m really excited for this next transfer to be here. I highly doubt that I will be transfered while I am still being trained. 

One of our investigators is named Juan Reyes.  He is a little Dominican Republic guy that lives about a 20 minutes walk away from us. The sencond day that I was here in a Coruña we had a lesson with him and not until this last week have we been able to be in contact with him.  We have a little bit of a problem with invetigators disappearing from us. But, this week we found him outside of his house! He lives on the first floor of his piso complex with his family and supposedly one of his rooms was locked and they couldn't get in from the inside. So he got a ladder and tried to get in through the window from the outside. His ladder was not quite long enough so he ran inside and came out with another ladder that was obviously not long enough either. He also came out with some electrical wire that looked like you use for speakers. He tied the two ladders together and we helped hold this thing still while he scrambled up to his window. This was the definition of "jury rigged" it was so sketch! Then afterwards we all went inside and had a great lesson.

Everything is going great. I am still working hard. Some days are definitly harder than others trying to stay motivated and want to go work. I thought that it would always be easy to want to work and talk to people. I have been praying for the patience to have a strong desire to serve the people here. My prayer is being answered the more I talk to ward members, teach lessons and knock doors. My Spanish is improving poco a poco. I have definitely seen progress from the first week of being here! 

I love you family so much. I can´t wait to hear from you next week! 

Elder Jayden Miles

Letter #10

jayden.miles@myldsmail.net

                                

Hola Familia!
Time goes so fast out here.  We do so much everyday from studying, contacting and teaching lessons.  It is hard work and sometimes it's hard to stay motivated but it's all an adventure and I know the importance of this work. We have met some awesome and some crazy people here in Spain.  I love serving the Lord.

It's been surprisingly hard leaving behind my music.  It was such a part of my life.  The only music I listen to is church music.  I can actually tolerate it now but I probably won't listen to it regularly again when I get home. 

Some of the advice we give to our members and those we teach are three important things to maintain your spirituality: O.L.A.; Orar, Leer, y Assister.  In English it is to PRAY, READ and Attend CHURCH. Doing these three things will help you stay close to our Heavenly Father and keep you strong spiritually. 

This week we helped a member move, a mudansa. We also helped move another family a couple weeks ago but the things that we moved this time were a lot more clean. The first house that we moved had furniture that was litterally soaked in dog mess... It was not a pleasent experience to say the least. Although, both times were an awesome opportunity to serve our members so we can gain their trust and get refferals! 

I found out that the chorale that we sing in will be performing in front of all of the wards in Galicia! I didnt realize that we would have such a huge crowd. It will be good though I am excited.

The ward had a mercadillo which is like a garage sale/ flee market to raise money for the youth.  It will be for a youth conference.  It is called efy but they pronounce it just how it is spelled not like E.F.Y. It was a good time!

I completed my residency here in Spain! All I have to do is wait 40 days to get my residency card and then I am completely legit for 1 year. I am excited to be official here. 

Elder Bird and I are getting along great. We talk about the fact that we have Kim as a mutual friend and how small the world is. This week we had the chance to teach a lesson with a very nice and well off guy. He is an economist and his wife is a lawyer. We think that he would make an awesome addition to the ward. He is also Gallego.  He works a lot in London and we don´t have a lot of time between transfers to really get to know him.  I hope for the best though.  

Monte de San Pedro, Spain

Lately, we have been eating a lot of meals with the members which has been awesome! We have tons of food that we have not had time to eat from our cook but I love eating with the members and getting to know them.  I don´t know what it is but I hope it continues. 

Something kind of funny/ annoying is that everyone here thinks that we are Jehovah´s Witness of Testigos de Jehovah.  We have to clear that up right quick with the people that assume we are Testigos when we contact them. We have had some bible conversations with the some testigos a couple times...

Well, I hope all goes well this week! Again have a Happy Birthday Josh! Thanks mom for the Lyrics! I love it! 

I love you all so much!

Elder Jayden

Letter # 9

Hello Family!

It sounds like everyone had a good exciting week! From the unfortunate scout camp that Dad and Jonny went on...to Jenna getting her new teefys. 

That campout sounded miserable! Haha, but Jonny you will probably remember that campout as one of the most fun campouts during scouting. You will definitely not forget it. I can´t believe that little Jonny boy is already passing the Santa Cena! (Sacrament) That is so cool!

Jenna I am so excited for you and your new teeth!  That has got to be awesome! I can´t wait to see pictures of you:) I was touched that you have the picture of us at the Airport when I left as you phone wallpaper :) 

Sounds like Josh is living the work hard, play hard life of high school.  I have to say that I am not jealous of you working. :P Good times on the weekends there...   Josh, you eating at IHOP sounds soooooo good right now. They do not have maple syrup here and if you find it, it's probably like 10€... Kinda sucks.

Good work dad on fixing the sprinklers. I don´t know how you know how to do everything. Sounds like a lot of work! Thanks for the encouraging words in your last email. I am working hard to take advantage of the time out here. Time sure is flying by. I worked hard this week on using all the Spanish that I know.  I shared my testimony during a couple of lessons this week in Spanish and it was awesome!   Not quite the gift of tounges but I felt the spirit.

Mom, I hope the root canal went well. I assume it did because you sang in a few concerts this week. I am sad that I missed that concert. I am sure that you sounded as amazing as ever though. Thanks for sending me a couple pictures of my missionary plaque. Looks pretty fancy. I haven´t got your package yet... I am guessing that I won't get it until the end of the week though. I think it usually takes longer.  Thank you so much though!!! I am so excited!

My intercambio went really well Tuesday. Ferrol is basically the same as A Coruña but is a little more quiet with less people. I really liked it there.  I spoke Spanish the whole time with Elder Alvorez. That was some awesome practice. We taught two lessons and had a big dinner with a member family. The members thought I was shy because I had good table manners:) We had meat and they kept telling me to just eat it with my hands because I was taking too long to cut it all up with a knife.  So I ate it with my hands. It was good food with rice, meat, bread and fanta. My favorite part of the intercambio was going up to a town called Cedeira.  It was about 30 minutes out of town.  It was one of the coolest, most beautiful places that I have ever seen.  Of course I did not have my camera with me but I don´t think it would have done it justice anyway.  There were grass fields, forrests of eucalyptus trees, rolling hills, and an amazing coastline.  We visited a family there that lives in a classic Spaniard house. It had red shingles on the roof.  Cedeira was how I pictured Spain before I came out and am so glad that I had the opportunity to go up there. Galicia is beautiful.

The work this week was hard and a little discouraging. Elder Bird and I make awesome plans to visit a lot of investigators but half of our lessons fall through. Don´t worry though, my spirits are still high and I know that I am out here for a reason and there are people here that I need to teach.

One thing that I would love is a letter with pictures of the house.  Just like the average day at home of all the rooms to help me to remember.  Just like the family watching TV or eating at the dinner table in the kitchen. Candid photos of life at home. I would love that!

Also I sent a letter today addressed mainly to Josh but feel free to read to all the family. I think it would good for all of you!

Thank you so much for all of your emails!! They mean the world to me :) All is well over here in Spain. I am working hard and having good times.

Love,

Elder Jayden Miles

Letter #8

Happy Mother's Day:

It was so awesome to talk on the phone with you guys yesterday! It seriously lifted my spirit through the roof! Before the call I was nervous because I wasnt sure of what I wanted to say, but I think that it went very well. Yesterday, I was reflecting on that question that you asked me mom. "Am I happy?" I wasnt sure If I was yesterday when you asked but I was able to reflect on that more.  I am really happy! I feel super close to the Lord and I feel the spirit a lot everyday.  I know with all my heart that I am supposed to be here on a mission.

The mission is hard but I am trying to be patient with myself. I just want to learn a lot faster than it is possible, I guess, haha. I am working hard and I truly have a desire to be here.

Elder Bird and Elder Miles

Today was a really good day.  The four of us Elders took a bus over to the Torre de Hurcules.  Usually on Pdays it´s really cloudy and bad weather but luckily today it was perfect. Sunny and warm.  The Lighthouse is way cool! Hurcules was not buried there but the head of the giant that Hurcules killed was buried there.  The tower was built in 1 century AD and there were renovations done to it in the 18th century.  It was really interesting to see how it was built and I loved the veiw from the top. Oh yeah, we got to go inside and climb the stairs to the top. It was sooo windy at the top! It reminded me how windy it was when we went to Dead Horse Point. I took a lot of pictures for you.  

This week was pretty good.  I pretty much told you over the phone about it.

I am really learning to love this city. When I first arrived here I was not too fond of it.  The more I become familiar with it and get to know it the more I am enjoying my time here.  

I am in a the ward choir and singing the tenor part for a confrence thing that we are having.  I am not very good at figuring out which note to start on but its fun to be with the ward.

I have changed my attitude about being quiet during lessons and around other people.  I have been kind of shy about my Spanish and it is really easy to just sit back and listen.  But I have been trying to speak all the Spanish that I know.

I am going on an intercambio tomorrow with the district leader.  He only speaks Spanish so I will get some good practice with him.  I am going up to Ferrol, which is another city that is north west from here.  I am excited. 

I miss you all at home. I hold on to my memories like it is my life.  I hope you all don´t miss me too much, don´t be sad. It´s fun to write letters back and forth to each other!

I love receiving LETTERS in the mail so if anybody wants to make my day out here.... yeah :)

Also, Mom I am doing great with supplies and stuff.  You were wondering if you needed to send me anything?  Little American snacks and candy would be amazing:)

I love each and everyone of you so much! Things are going great in Spain and I am having a good time.

¡Hasta proxima semana, Ciao!

Elder Miles