August 26, 2009

"Drowning in Joy"

To My Loving Family and Friends!!
I know I use the word a lot and I am repetitive but there is no better way to describe the feelings I feel every moment as I get to serve for my Father in Heaven! I truly continue to drown in joy everyday! As I have mentioned in the past getting transferred to Connecticut was the most humbling experience of my mission and very difficult for me to leave the City. I was so sad! Once I was actually in Connecticut I fell in love with it there SO fast that I forgot the love I have for New York. I love this place! So let me tell you about my last week in Connecticut. It was miraculous! Although Sister Roberts and I did not see a baptism together, we had many moments of feeling the spirit and being able to teach that mean so much to me! I am forever grateful for that! 2 weeks ago now Sister Roberts and I got a phone call from a member in the Ward and he asked us to come over and teach his little sister in-laws boyfriend! We were excited for the appointment and to be able to teach Chris! To tell you about Chris he just graduated high school and applied to BYU and University of Utah! He got accepted to both and thought it was funny he had to got through 3 interviews for his application for BYU, hehe! He is one smart kid! He decided to go to University of Utah and we had a total of 5 days to teach him everything before he left for school! He wanted to know every little thing about the church even though he has been immersed in it for a while since he has been dating Victoria! Talk about prepared! Well in a total of 4 days we taught him all of the lessons and it could not have been better! We are excited to here what the future holds for him and I know he will be a stalwart in the church when he really decides to act on it. One of my favorite lessons was when we taught The Gospel of Jesus Christ and at the beginning of the lesson Sister Roberts asked him if he knows that Joseph Smith was a prophet and the Book of Mormon is true! Chris thoughtfully replied with a yes and with his response Matt (Victoria’s brther in-law) asked how so? He said he is taking a leap of faith based on the feelings he has felt at church and during our appointments. I have thought a lot about that and how grateful I am for the principle of faith and how important it really is. I often wish others had the faith he has but then again we all have our agency and need to choose for ourselves! The last week Sister Roberts and I were together was perfect as perfect can be and that is just how Heavenly Father had it set up for us! I feel so blessed! No matter where I am serving I know that nothing can stop this work from progressing! : ) I know all throughout my mission I have felt like there have been a lot of perfect weeks and a lot of not so perfect weeks. To share with you the joy I feel I must tell you about another perfect week that I have had with Sister Luedtke! 2 for 2 ;) Yesterday sums it up…let me share what happened. We had an appointment fall through at 6pm and we were bummed. But not for long! We stop and talked to 2 gentlemen and got a return appointment with each! We went to do our back-up plans and got on the bus. First of all, it was our favorite bus driver and second of all we ran into Rose who is a lady we taught the day before and is a new investigator for us! We looked up Sister Brown from church and she was not home so we are walking down Evergreen and stop to talk to a lady. Auna told us she used to go to the church in the DR with her sister and has wanted to go here! Once again, we got another return appointment and gave her the address. We left that to make our way to another look-up we had and we turned onto Weston and there was a lady who smiled really big at us and we stopped to talk with her. Eva told us Sisters used to teach her in the DR and she wants us to see pictures so we set up another return appointment! As we kept going down Watson we ran into a family that has not been to church for 10 years and they were parking there car. We had previously stopped by a few days before to talk with them and share a message but it was still a tender mercy for us! We left Watson to get to Boynton where we had an appointment in due time with a lady and as we were walking this man in front of us had a bag of books that broke and the books fell all over street. We were able to help him pick up the books since it was noticeably difficult for him and just like Auntie I happened to have an extra bag in my back pack!! LOL! I use plastic bags to keep my things dry and Heavenly Father had an empty one for Francisco!!: ) I am not that much like Auntie!;) As we were walking to the corner of Boynton and Westchester to meet Amy (someone who has also not been to church for a while) at McDonalds we stopped and talked to the police on the street who are always in 2’s and make us feel safe! They loved hearing about what we do and have never heard about the church! We had a great lesson with Amy at McDonalds of all places and before we new it it was time for home. We got on the bus and when we got off at our stop to our surprise there were 4 of our Elders waiting to get on the bus and with smiles on their faces they quickly sang "As Sister In Zion" to us. It was too cute and perfecting ending to the day. Even though we experience days complete opposite of this I am grateful for the days we experience the not so good because such days as this make up for it. Well, it is time to run and get to those people who know nothing about the church ( I am still shocked to meet so many people who know nothing!) but I love you all and miss you more!:) Until next time…..XOXO!
Love you always,
Sister Miller
P.S. Sister Luedtke is basically the most optimistic companion I have ever had!! We are having too much fun and it is such a blessing! Not that other comps were not positive but I just feel SO blessed!
P.P.S My new address in the Bronx that is very safe is: 1414 White Plains Road Bronx NY 10462