Letter #38, 9 Months!

Hello Family!

It sounded like you had a great time this week with the Anderson party at our house, Mom´s choir, Jenna´s dance performance, Jonny´s music concert! I am bummed out that I had to miss all that! Christmastime is always my favorite at home. It is always so exciting and cozy. I thought that it was hilarious how Josh got caught sneaking into the Christmas closet! It was fun to hear that story from all of your emails :) 

Mom, that sounded fun for you to call into the mission office. I wonder who you talked to?  You could have even talked with my trainer, Elder Bird, since he is in the office and incharge of mail over there. It will be funny to see how much my speech changes by the end of the mission. 

Sounds like the Anderson family party was a hit! It is weird that I was not able to be there for that one. I had to buy myself a bag of peanuts today and now I understand why. I must have been missing the party & the "pass the parcel" game. I am so glad that you had such a great week! 

I actually wrote down what I did this week so I will start with Monday.

Monday: All of the missionaries in Madrid are doing a big Christmas concert which we are performing at today. We had a big practice with everyone and it was fun to see my mission friends. I was touched by the spirit a couple times during the practice which reminded me of the way Mom feels when she performs her amazing choir concerts. I felt like I was following in your footsteps, Mom. Later that day, we went to visit one of our investigators, Ani. She is from Brazil. The past couple of times we have visited her she has had a friend over but this time she had three. There was an older Spaniard man, Older Dominican woman, and her friend from Bolivia. After getting to know them a little bit it was obvious that all four of them, including Ani, were at a great level of spirituality. Da igaul, we taught them all the "Plan of Salvation" and we did a great job of adjusting to their needs. One was athiest, one believes that God was everything, one was kind of believing in God and Ani is just awesome but is always running around taking care of kids. It was so cool to teach such nice people with many different beliefs all at once. While I bore my testimony to them I was amazed that I was able to do that in front of people that I have never even met before with such different backgrounds. It was a cool experience.

Tuesday: We are friends with the guy that works in the churro and chocolate stand. He has been giving us free churros and chocolate ever since we met him. His name is Abraham from Bolivia. He is a really nice guy and fun to visit with, but he is always working. As of right now we aren´t realy teaching him  but we are there to keep a good image of the church so that one day, when he decides to come to church, he can remember us. There is also another family in our ward that we visit named the Minguitos, Spaniards. They are all really nice. We shared a fun lesson with them.

Wednesday: The main thing that happend on Wednesday was that we met with a new investigator named Ana. She has been actually been coming to church with her member boyfriend for the past 3 years but just hasn´t been babtized. We are good friends with the boyfriend's family, The Boriosi´s from Argentina, sshhaa. 

Jueves: I did intercambios with my Zone Leader and left Elder Cordova in charge in Arganda. It was a stress reliever to get out of my area for a day and have someone else incharge. Elder Eskelson is one of my zone leaders and he actually flew to Spain with me on the same flight. I have a picture of us at the airport! It was cool that we were able to be together for a day.

Friday: Finished intercambios and I went back to Arganda. Elder Cordova was so relieved to have me back. He told me that he is so appreciative for me and that I am willing to get him to work and for me to be in-charge. I was glad to hear that. I think I might leave and go away for intercambios more often ;) 

Saturday: There was a big end of the year Christmas party! It turned out very well. Lots of food, people, good program and everyone loved it. The Missionaries in my ward and I all sang Jingle bell rock and Venid Adoremos (I can´t remember what it is in English..) The ward all seemed to love that too. Something crazy that happened there though was that Ana, the girl we taught on Wednesday, told us that she wants to get baptized this Thursday!! That came out of nowhere! Elder Cordova and I set a goal to have one baptism this month and it is happening! We have to teach her all of the lessons but she pretty much knows everthing since she has been going to church for the past 3 years. 

Sunday: Good day at church, taught Ana again. 

This week should be fun! Tonight we are having our big choir concert and tomorrow we are having a Blitz in Arganda! Elder Cordova and I thought it would be cool if we got all of the missionaries in our district to come out to Arganda and proselyte, so that is what we are doing tomorrow. Afterwards, we are going to go hit the Telepizza for Medio Dia lunch all together. I hope that it all turns out well.  It will let Arganda know that the Mormons are here. Wednesday, I am going out to Cuenca to do an intercambio with an Elder from Italia. Look that city up online for some pictures. Some of the pisos are built into the cliffs.  AND Thursday is Ana´s babtism! 

I have been reading "The Living Christ" everyday for the past couple weeks in my personal study. It is the testimony from the Prophet and his Apostles. I have really enjoyed doing that because it has centered my life more on Christ. It shares the true importance of Christ and what he did for us. That would be a good one to read together. 

I hope that you all have a great week! I will talk to you next Wednesday on Skype :)

Love you all and have fun :)

Elder Miles

Letter #37

I have yet made another week without any of my own money :)  It sure has been inconvinient. I have been eating rice, pasta, and cereal. I do not like relying on using my comps money. We even had to borrow money from a ward member to go to church on the metro which was very kind of them. All the metro traveling has killed us.  We are doing fine though and we have not gone without because the Lord is looking over us. 

There are a couple of families that are a great help in the work. They give us people to teach and they let us use their houses. There are not as many people in the street here as there were in Vallecas so it makes contacting really hard. Our ward building is in Madrid so we have to travel there and back for district meetings, english classes, Noche de Hogar, and for church. It has been kind of a pain to have to travel out there especially without a metro pass. Elder Cordova ran out of money supporting us both to get there and back. We had to ask a member to help us out so we could get to church this sunday.

It is funny that you said that we just need these people to open their doors because the other day we just knocked doors all day. We must have gone from house to house for about 75 houses and not a single one had any interest. It was a long day to say the least. I don´t know if we were in the wrong area, if the spirit was telling me to go somewhere else or what. The work here is slow and it has taken a good amout of patience but it is improving. 

I am enjoying Arganda, the members are awesome and the word is that there might be a branch here soon :)

I loved hearing about your mission dad. At times I like to picture you as a missionary and how you would have worked or how you would have reacted to the situations that I go through here. 

We set a fecha this last week with a guy from Columbia. I hope that we can get him to continue to progress. 

 

I am excited to see what happens here in Arganda during the Christmas season! I am really excited to skype home and see you all. Luckily, the members have had mercy on us and we are going to have a meal with a family on the 24th and 25th :) Yum, one of them is going to make us Turkey! 

Thanks for all your support and prayers! I hope that you have a great week! 

Love Elder JJ

Answers:

What are the drivers like in Spain?

The drivers here I think are crazy.  They do stop on a dime when you even approch a crosswalk though.

What kind of Spanish Christmas celebrations are there?

I am not sure what people do here for Christmas but I know there are lots little festive pastries and such.

Love you!

Elder JJ 

Letter #36

Thanks so much for all the awesome pictures of home and your emails! The house looks amazing as it does every year for Thanksgiving and Christmas. I can't believe  I used to live there! I am used to little shanty piso and when I saw those pictures I was suprised! The poster that you made was awesome! I will keep sending more pictures. I really thought it was cool. 

It sounds like Thanksgiving was a hit again this year! I sure did miss being home for it.  Around 9 pm Spain time my companion and I were picturing our moms taking the turkey out of the oven. Thanksgiving was my first day in my new area so we didn´t get to eat a meal at the members. What we did though was buy lunch for medio dia from a Kebab :) It is Turkish food and it was delicious and really cheap. Turkish food=Thanksgiving Turkey...good enough for us! I am not going to lie, it sucked being away from home on Thanksgiving. I had no money and my companion & I are brand new to the area so we just worked the rest of the day. 

My new area is fun. I am in a little city named Arganda del Rey.  It's about an hour outside of Madrid by Metro. I am still a part of the same ward.  It just means that we have to travel farther to get to the church 3 times a week. The members out here in Arganda and another city that we have called Rivas, are awesome! I am excited to be out here. I am hoping to work with the members a lot and hopefully get to enjoy some good family meals:) We live in a little hole in the wall that is next to a huge Catholic church. It is actually pretty cozy now since we have it stocked with some food and the heat is working now:) The sisters picked the piso and only lived here for 4 days before they were transferred. It has a nice happy orange wall and a baby blue little boy's room which is where we sleep. Que lindo, hermanas! 

My companion's name is Elder Cordova. He is from New Jersey.  His view from his house is across the Hudson River and New York City! It has been fun to talk to him about New York and some of the places that I was familiar with. He is on his 3rd transfer. His parents are from Ecuador, so he is fluent in Spanish.  I'm excited for him to help me with mine:) He is a nice guy and has helped me out with my "no money" situation. He turns 19 this December. He was serving in Leon before this transfer.  It sounds like he was with some disobedient Elders before. I have been helping him to learn the mission rules. He is really willing to be obedient and work hard, which I am very grateful for. I am excited to be with him.

I will let you know next week when my companion and I decide on what time we want to skype home! I am way excited to see everyone :) 

I don´t think I will be going to Toledo to pick stuff out for Christmas... I can´t really think of anything that I would like you to send me. I do miss Peanut Butter a little bit haha. Sorry that I am not much help. Although, I would really enjoy some music! Mainly, I would love hymns and classical music but if there is any other church songs that you like to load that would be awesome. It should be music that invites the spirit:)  I would love some music and some supplies from the homeland!

Something that I studied this morning was Christlike attributes. I realized during my study that these attributes will not only make me a better missionary but also a better person in general. I am going to make it my goal to improve on these attributes that are listed in Preach my Gospel. 

I read this talk during my time on the computer and I really liked it. The Gospel blesses our lives immensely.  We can show our gratitude to our Savior by sharing it with others. The message of the Restored Gospel really is a message of happiness and joy. God loves us and he wants us to return to live with Him, therefore he has prepared a way that we can do so. Jesus Christ is the way. He is our example. He has suffered for our sins, our afflictions, sickness, (Alma 7) through the Atonement. Focus on Christ this season and share the joyful message of Salvation with others. 

https://www.lds.org/liahona/2013/12/family-and-friends-forever?lang=eng&clang=eng&clang=spa

The Living Christ: Testimony of the Apostles

http://jesuschrist.lds.org/SonOfGod/eng/testimonies-of-him/articles/the-living-christ-the-testimony-of-the-apostles-of-the-church-of-jesus-christ-of-latter-day-saints

I hope that you have a great week. I will continue working hard and focusing on the work. 

Love you so much y espero que le vaya bien.

Love Elder Miles

Letter #35

Dear Mom,

churro & Chocolate:)

Pick Pocket! Everything is fine and the mission office is working to get me a new church credit card and residency card. I am really bumbed out that I lost my wallet. It had my drivers lisence, A Coruña bus card & my other credit cards.  I didn´t lose any cash luckily.  It was a sentimental loss more than anything. I am safe though and I am glad to hear that there wasn´t any money taken out of either of my accounts. I was on my way to Cuenca to do an exchange. We took the metro and it was completely packed, so I am guessing that some sneak thief stole it there. I don´t remember seeing anybody suspicious or feeling anybody reaching into my satchel. My wallet was in a bad place, in my bag. Hopefully the other Elders will have compassion on me and lend me some money to eat. Elder Anderson already has helped me out a bit, great guy. Transfers are here! I was originally going to stay in my same area with a new companion but President called me and told me that I am going to a different area that is just outside of the main city Madird. It is more like the suburbs of Madrid. Sisters were originally there but there has been creepy guys giving them problems so I am trading areas with them.  I am still in the same ward and district but I will just be about 40 minutes outside of Madrid. There are awesome members there and I am excited to have a new area. Elder Anderson and I had a lot of people that were really close to baptism. I am bummed that I won´t be able to continue to teach them, but I will be able to interview them! I will miss Elder Anderson. He was an awesome companion with a lot of good desires to work hard. I am recieving my new companion this Wednesday.  He is coming down from Leon and he is a native! I am going to learn a ton more Spanish with him, so I am very excited for that. 

Everything is going great, I am healthy and positive. Working hard, playing little. I think I am going to get some water colors or something so I can get my creative side out a little bit during medio dia :)  

I hope that you have a great Thanksgiving this year! I am sad that I won´t be able to be there to cut the Turkey again but I will try and fix something over here with my new native :) I hope that you have a great week Mom and I love you. Thanks for all your support and awesome letters.

Love Elder Miles

Letter #34 - 8 months

District 8

Elder Miles & his eye candy!

Thanks so much family for your emails! Thanks Dad for your words of encouragement and your update of the week. Thanks Mom for sharing the things that you did and for all of your prayers. Jonny it sounds like you are having a fun time in Middle School with wrestling, new friends, and chaco tacos :) Sounds like you had a fun week Jenna! Josh... what the cuss? 

The city is getting ready for Christmas

My week went all right this week. It was pretty slow.  Not a lot of our investigators had time to meet with us which left us out in the cold winter rains of Madrid. I have been bundled up from head to toe. My leather gloves have saved my life. This week is really time to crack down and get down to business. It is the last week of the transfer and possibly the last week that Elder Anderson are together. 
We have made a really great friendship together. We get along great. 

Oh, love this shop...

For P-day today we traveled up to the northern part of Madrid to meet up with almost every other missionary here in Madrid. That was great to see some other friends that I havent seen in a while. I met another Elder that went to Alta High School named Elder Hawks. It was cool to meet him. It took quite a bit of travel by train and metro hopping to get to our destination. I find it exciting to navigate all the different lines of the metro and RENFE around Madrid. Sometimes it is exhausting but when I am in the mood for it I enjoy it. 

Lately Elder Anderson and I have been getting a lot of random people that will to tell us that we are wrong and like to argue with us. It isn´t much of an argument because we don't want to waste time and temper but it has been quite annoying. It is random guys on the bus or train and it is easy to argue but I resist and simply listen and give them a pass along card and wish them a good day. It gets my temper up though, it is a good trial of patience.

I am so grateful for all of your letters and support! I hope that you have a great week and remember the Lord in all that you do. 

What do you like & dislike about Spain?

One thing that I love about Spain is when the Spaniards are nice they are really nice and I love them! But when a Spaniard's want to be mean... that I am not a fan of.

What do you eat for breakfast?

For breakfast I usually eat cereal, fruit, croissant with nutella, cola coa (hot chocolate), eggs or just whatever sounds good.

What do you do during medio dia?

During medio día I usually make food, relax a little bit and then study Spanish for half an hour. I am aloud to take a nap but I usually don´t because I feel like I am wasting time. 

What are you studying right now?

I am reading the Book of Mormon in Spanish and the New Testament in English. Lately, I have just been trying to learn to be a better teacher with Preach My Gospel. I also study a lot to know how I can help my district. 

Have a great week.  

Love,  Elder Miles

Letter #33

Dear Family,

Glad to hear from you and to know that everything is going well at home. I was really shocked to hear about the horrible typhoon in the Philippines! I can't believe how fast those winds were! 

That is sad that Doug´s dog died. She was a such a nice pup. I missed Charlie and Rozy this week, I felt like ruffing them up and teasing Roxy. Elder Anderson has a couple Corgies and loves to talk about them. He says he wants to live in Ireland and have a heard of Corgies, like around 30. I would like to see pictures of that when it happens:) Did you end up giving charlie a nice chap on the head for trying to eat those tator tots? Give him one for me will ya? A chap on the head not a tator tot.

It seems like there are so many good movies that have come out in 2013! I see posters of them all over the place. Thor 2, Enders Game, look pretty sweet. Let me know how they are. I thought it was funny to read that you and dad came out of that pirate movie all blue. I don´t really like sad true stories all that much either. 

I had a pretty great week this week. I gave my first baptismal interview. I interviewed a Bolivian girl named Eliana and she passed :) It was a really cool privilege to be able to do that. It was also really cool to see her baptized and confirmed after interviewing her. Elder Anderson and I found a really awesome new investigator who was actually able to come to the baptism. His name is Antonio and he is from Leon, España. He is a Spaniard! :) He is super nice and really humble. He is probably around 60 or so and he has some great potential. He came to church yesterday and said that he really liked it and that he was going to keep coming. I love that guy, he is awesome!  
The work is going well, it is improving slowly but surely week to week. Elder Anderson and I are setting a goal to have a new investigator and a lesson with a member every day and that has helped us to concentrate and set good goals. 

I was able to go again to the Temple and it was great. I was able to see the new Endowment presentation which I really enjoyed. I thought it was much better than the old one :) 

All in all a pretty good week. I can´t believe that it is already a new week and that it is P-day again. 

Answers of this week:

-My beard is getting thicker & coming in a little more full.

-My pants are a little tight, I don´t need a belt for sure.

-I understand pretty much everything in Spanish. Elder Anderson and I only speak Spanish in the streets which has been helping a lot. I don´t feel like I can quite express myself completely yet. 

-My favorite food so far in Spain... I had a pretty delicious meal last night at a members house! There was lamb, chicken, beef, potatoes, and a bunch of little ourderves. The spaniards have bread with every meal, which I like because there is a lot of good bread here. I don´t really know what my favorite has been so far. Dominicans also cook super good food!

P.S. I got your package like a week after you sent it and I think that I just forgot to tell you... With the Candy corn and the body part gummies. I have been snacking of those for the past month now. Thanks so much for that! Sorry I forgot to tell you.

P.P.S I am planning on going down to Sol to look at Fútbol shirts like you asked me last week. I am unsure if you want me to buy them or not. I am probably going to buy them today and I ´ll try and send them soon. I am kinda guessing on the sizing...

Dad-

Sounds like you had a good fun week with Jonny with wrestling and the hotsprings. It is funny to picture jonny in a little singlet all ready to wrestle. Sound like a good time up in the hotsprings. It is too bad that those hotsprings are getting so popular now-a-days. It was nice when nobody really knew about it. That was cool you ran into Ansen and his wife. He is a cool guy and yeah, he was a great example for me when I was a young scout. It´s crazy that he is already back and has his own family!

Love ya,

Elder JJ Miles

Letter #32

Bon Jour!

I was able to use a little bit of the french I know this week.  A ward from France  had a temple trip and they are always at the church.

It is crazy how much change is going on at home while I am gone. It feels like the world is spinning a mile a minute with how fast time is flying. I was able to do intercambios with one of my zone leaders and he told me ''Don´t worry it only gets faster.'' Josh applying to the U, Jenna being in High School, Jonny going to a new middle school!  There is a kid in a differenct stage of life right now! Exciting times for the family .

I am jealous to hear that you had a great time at the Taylor's! It is always so fun to go down there and be with them, not to mention the guns, four wheelers, and waffle cookies. That is really cool that Heather has decided to serve a mission. 

¿Que Lo que? Espero que toda esta hevi y tranquilo. Dominican slang :) I love the Dominicans, they are really nice and cook the best food. 

Me suena que tuviste una buena semana si tomas en cuenta que trabajaste todo los días. Estoy disfrutando el campo misional y mi llamamiento de ser líder de distrito. Por cierto hay mucho responsabilidad pero me gusta. Me ayuda a enfocarme en la obra mejor. Me siento un amor mas fuerte por los misioneros en mi distrito por que estoy serviendoles. Estoy pensando en las maneras que pueda ayudarles a progresar y mejorar. He recibido un poquito mas como siente la amor puro de Cristo, que es la caridad.  

I am not quite missing the freezing cold of Utah but it is getting a bit more fresquito here in Madrid. I am wearing my sweater every day to keep a little more warm. My mission clothes are holding up great! There are not many signs yet of the wear and tear. I am so used to wearing the missionary clothes now. Whenever I get into Pday clothes to play fútbol I feel like I am getting into the wrong clothes.

The Halloween party was a smash! Tons of people showed up and they even brought friends and family. It started off pretty slow and it was a little awkward but about an hour later (like we planned) it started to really get going. We were able to schedule a couple lessons with some non-members which was great. There was normal music which I couldn't help dancing but, I had to resist of course. Spain celebrates the Día de los Santos. I am not quite sure what the difference is between that and Día de los muerte. I baked about 75 of those little no-bake cookies for that thing and it seems like everyone enjoyed them.  All in all it turned out great.  We were all really excited on that success. One of the member told us that they hadn´t seen a party like that in Barrio 8 in a long time. 

It was a little strange having a normal day on Halloween, especially for my companion because he loves Halloween! He makes a crazy awesome costume for it every year and this year. We ended up switching sweaters and ties and we were eachother. 

The ward is doing well. Elder Anderson and I are trying to get the ward more involved with the missionary work. Last night we visited a family that cooked up a cake and hot chocolate which was delicious, very nice family needless to say :) Tonight we are going to a recent converts house for hamburgers and fries. He is from Honduras and the food there is muy paracido to the U.S.

I have my first babtismal interview to give this Thursday night. I am a little nervous but I am excited aswell. It is a 14 year girl that the hermanas are teaching, I will let you know how that goes.

Answers of the week:

What rule is the hardest to keep?

As of right now my companion and I have been doing really good on obedience. Sometimes it requires some running to get home on time but other than that obedience hasn´t been too much of a challenge.

When should Josh go on a mission? 

I think that Josh could handle the mission right after High School. I think the sooner he gets out the less destractions he can avoid. If he does stay home for anytime I think a semester would be sufficient. Intitute helped me a lot.

Can you buy some soccer shirts for the family?

I can buy some soccer shirts this next week for Pday. They are pretty pricey for the jerseys so I would probably find some Real Madrid brand t-shirts or of the sort. There are really cool Soccer Real Madrid Stores here.

How has your testimony grown since being on a mission?

I feel like my testimony has grown all around in every aspect. Josheph Smith, The Book of Mormon, Christ being my Savior. I don´t know if I can quite narrow it down. I have grown in testimony a lot being out here. 

I love you and pray for you.

LOVE you all!

Elder Jayden