Share The Gospel!!

Hey Y'all!

Halloween last week was special because the people we went to go see were within walking distance so we walked around with all the little trick-or-treaters. :P Some people asked us if we wanted candy, but we didn't think it would be good because we weren't technically trick-or-treating. :) Next year I'm getting three years worth or candy though, so no worries. :)

We are still trying to meet all of the members in our area and we were able to meet with a couple less actives this week. Very very few of the less actives are less active because of a lack of a testimony, which I find interesting. Anyway, one that we met is Brother Ball and we just talked to him a little on his porch because he lived alone. We told him to read 3 Nephi 18 (about the Sacrament) and he said he would "forget to do it" so we wrote it on a sticky note and gave it to him and told him to read it before Sunday (which gave him four days). He said he would put it on his fridge so it would "tempt him and make him feel guilty for not doing it." We told him he had to do it before Sunday and wouldn't leave until he said he would. We also promised him blessings. :) He finally said he'd do it. Silly man.

We also met with the Lambert family and I love them so much. :) She is less active but knows she needs to come. They invited us to dinner and we talked about the Sabbath Day and they came to church!!! Happy day. :)

We also met with an investigator we have named Delores and she is progressing!!!!! Happy day! She read 7 chapters in the Book of Mormon and said she would get baptized if she knew it was true. :) We're excited.

I love how much being on a mission has strengthened my testimony in church, the Sacrament, and the Sabbath Day. I know they are all so important for our salvation and that we literally would not be able to do what we need to do in this life without their blessings. I know that the Sacrament cleanses and renews us each week and that it is so essential for us each week. I know that the Sabbath is a gift from God that will bless us greatly on every other day of the week. And I know that the church is the House of the Lord and that we are blessed for keeping the commandment of going and worshiping our God there.

Have a wonderful week!!!! Share the gospel with someone this week!!

Sister Miller

HALLOWEEN!!

Totally poured on us when we didn't have an umbrella. :P

Hello!

Me and Sister Donahoo!!!

All of us together with our pumpkins. :D Sister Ward, me, Sister Van Tassle, and Sister Donahoo. :D

"Mormon"

A GINORMOUS bug flew in the car and we freaked out and I had to push it out with an umbrella! It took like 10 minutes.

Stake Conference and Exchanges!!

Hey Y'all!

This week went by super fast as well and we're starting to get to know the area better. The people here are very accommodating when we tell them we're lost and ask for directions. :) Lovin the south.

We were kind of struggling with miles this week so we decided to walk a bunch. Well, one day we were walking to a neighborhood close by with a couple referrals to contact and the people we passed kept telling us to hurry so we wouldn't get wet in the rain.... but it didn't look too bad and we're not too scared of rain so we kept going. :) We contacted the two referrals and it started to rain harder, but not too bad for us to turn back because it was more like misty rain... so we kept going to contact a potential a couple houses down.... but before we got there it really started to rain so we stopped under a huge tree and it was poooouuuurrrrring down and we're were just like, "Well shoot." 😄 I was laughing a little more than Sister Donahoo was, but guess what happened! Two houses down was a less active part member family (who hadn't come to church in years) and the member had seen us walking and knew that we were going to need help so he grabbed some umbrellas and came over to us while we were under the tree. :) Then his wife (the nonmember) drove us home and we even taught her a kind of lesson on the way there. :) #sacrificebringsmiracles

We also had exchanges with the Sister Training Leaders this week! I stayed in Huntington with Sister Harrison. :) I may or may not have made her walk in the rain as well.... maybe I should stop doing that. We found a lot of potentials and got TONS of return appointments. Which makes me VERY happy. :) We should be very busy this week.

And we had Stake Conference. We went with a less active (woot) and the Stake President told everyone about a big initiative he wants to do that will help the stake be a light on a hill. President Salisbury was obviously very excited about that too. :) We could always use a little more light here. :)

Happy Fall Y'all!!!

Sister Miller

Sister Copeland Got Baptized!

Haha! So my last area's apartment never had any food and we were always eating bread and rice... (notice the empty cupboards behind them) :P So I asked Sister Willis if she was still having a hard time and she said yes so Sister Donahoo and I bought them a bunch of food and sent it to them. :)

the box was one that was already in the apartment left over from an Elder's girlfriend who has sent him a box with pictures of them together. :) #doubledintoanElder'sapartmentproblems

We are the Shepherds in the Lord's Vineyard!!

Hello!

This week was super busy, I loved it. :) We have been inviting people to learn like crazy and have received TONS of referrals. We have a couple potentials but actually getting in the door is the struggle. We'll get in one way or the other! We are completely unpacked now and have been cleaning a lot. :)

We put three people on date for baptism this week! And of them came to church and totally participated in the classes and even volunteered to help take down the trunk-or-treat later this month. :) It was so funny too because he came to church (I was laughing so hard after) and both of the talks and both of the classes talked about commandments and other doctrine that we have not taught him yet (baptisms for the dead, coffee and tea, missionary work, etc). He was like, "Wait, what?" And we explained a little but told him we would tell him more when we met with him later. :) Oh geez.

We've only gotten lost 4 times this week, so that was nice. :)

I'm loving being back in West Virginia. :) I'm so glad I'll finish my mission here.

This week in our White Christmas Book of Mormon reading we read Jacob 5 about the allegory of the olive tree. The Master of the Vineyard (Christ) took some of the natural branches from the Olive Tree and put them in different places in the vineyard to see if they would grow and bear good fruit. When they came back, they saw that the branches did bring forth good fruit. The servant then asked the Master why He chose those places to put the branches, because they were a very "poor" spot of land. I thought that was very interesting that Christ would choose to put people in a "poor spot" and expect good fruit. The Master replied "Don't counsel me" and explained that He had nourished it and it had brought forth good fruit. And then He pointed out that He had put one branch in the best spot of ground and it had brought forth only half good and half bitter fruit.

It doesn't matter your circumstances, the people around you, or the place where you live. Either way, the Lord will nourish you in the gospel sufficiently for you to bear good fruit. It is your choice whether you do or not. 

This was especially powerful to me because I remember coming out here and looking at the people around this Bible belt and thinking, "how could the gospel possibly flourish here? There are so many things against it. This feels like a poor spot of ground." But it truly doesn't matter where in the world you are serving. The Lord nourishes and digs and prunes his branches. And it CAN thrive and bear good fruit! And it does!

I know that Christ loves the people in every spot of His vineyard and there can be much good fruit no matter where you are. God loves us and knows how to help us. He is the Master of the Vineyard.

Have a wonderful fruitful week!

Sister Miller

Sister Donahoo, me, Sister Kirkby, Sister Stettler, and Overly. :)

Ma baby came in the day ma mamma went out. :)

Greetings From Huntington!!

Greetings from Huntington!

I'm back in West Virginia! I've had so many de ja vous this last week, it's nuts. :) The ward here is so sweet, I love them all to pieces. Most of them are hard of hearing, which made for a very entertaining ward council meeting. :)

My new baby's name is Sister Donahoo. :) She is from Orange County, California. She went to BYU-I for a year before coming out, and is from a really sweet family. Her twin brother is serving in Arkansas right now and she is a sweet heart. She is not shy at all, which I love. :) And she's having fun with the culture shock and jet lag. :) I'm really excited to be with her. :)

Huntington reminds me a lot of my first area, Ripley, so I'm having a lot of de ja vous moments. :) We've had to do a lot of organizing this last week because....it was needed. :) And we've been meeting so many people, I love it here.

Still getting to know the area and we've been talking to the RS President a lot. She's been super involved and I love it. This ward hasn't had Sisters in a long time so there were all of these single women coming up to us in church who were so excited because they could finally feed the missionaries. :)

I know this is the Lord's work and that He has so many plans for this area. I can't wait to see what they are. :)

Love, Peace, and Chicken Grease,

Sister Miller

Sister Donahoo and me!

I'm Dreaming Of A White Christmas!!

I know, it's not even Halloween yet, but hear me out.

President Salisbury has started an initiative called "A White Christmas" for the whole mission. It entails reading the Book of Mormon in unity as a mission until December 3rd, reading 8.5 pages a day. Many other things will be added to this as Christmas gets closer, and the overall MAIN goal of the initiative is to have 28 baptisms each month for the next three months. A White Christmas is something special and rare and fun and exciting and something that we will never forget. And it's a theme of baptism-white and temple-white as well. And that's what we want to have for the next three months.

I am so grateful that I don't go home until 4 days after this initiative ends so I can be a part of all of it. :) I am so excited for all of the miracles that will be taking place.

It was really cool to be in the Mission Leadership Council over the past two transfers because I got to be a part of helping it come to life. :) I'm really excited for it.

And now, my Sister Training Leader days are over. I am being transferred to Huntington, WV. But first, I have to pick up my trainee. 🙋I'm gonna have another baby everyone!! We'll have a fun time getting lost and getting to know the area together. :)

We got a new Ward Mission Leader here in Christiansburg and I'm really excited because he has a lot of experience doing it. Sister Willis is so lucky. :) A lot of our investigators are progressing nicely and I am so excited for them to enter the waters of baptism.

I know this is the full church of Jesus Christ and that He guides our work every day. We just have to listen.

He also guides every one of you in your daily lives. He is there, and He loves you. What a glorious plan He has for each of us.

Love,

Sister Miller

Exchange with Peterstown Sisters! 

Reunited with Sister Cutler at MLC for last time. :)

Hello!!

Last Zone Meeting as Sister Training Leader. :)

Sister Van Tassle, Sister Johnson, Sister Gale, Sister Gardner, me, Sister Willis, Sister Mortensen, Sister Berger, Sister Fonua, Sister Christofferson, Sister Shoemig, Sister Rowley.

The Reward is not Usually Behind the First Door!!

Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry this email is so long. I always start emailing like, "I don't know what they heck I'm going to write about this week" and then I remember lots of stuff. So here's a summary because, let's be honest, no one wants to read this long of a letter.

Summary:

*We had a lot of people come to church and are feeling the spirit and it makes me very happy. :)

*General Women's session of Conference was awesome and everyone should watch it.

*A member made us Cafe Rio because God is good. :)

I hope you all had a great week!

Really Long Letter Version

This week was a great week for the whole zone. I love being a Sister Training Leader because I can know about how the whole zone is doing and even the whole mission. :) Sister Willis and I are getting better at planning (it is a skill Brothers and Sisters) and we are seeing rewards from diligently striving to get better at it.

This week we saw Sister Hopkins who looooves her church and her pastor. She lets us teach her because she "hasn't felt that she should say no to us yet, so we may have something that God wants her to hear." :P We taught her the Restoration and she thought it was incredible.... and the spirit told us to teach her the Word of Wisdom... which we don't usually teach so early on. Well, she did not like it. :P We told her to pray about it and read the pamphlet. We came back this last week and she said she read the pamphlet and it made a lot of sense. She also said that she thinks we're probably right because in church last Sunday her pastor actually talked about keeping our bodies as well as our spirits pure and clean by watching what we put in them. :P Loved it. Now she just needs to read and pray about the Book of Mormon.

We picked up an awesome investigator this week named Brother Waddell. It's difficult to meet with him (sigh) but he loved the Restoration and has read some of the Book of Mormon and wants to be baptized. :D

The Shepherds are doing awesome!!!! We taught tithing and they're going to try to figure out how they can pay it. And they came to church again. :) Sooooooo happpyyyyyyyyy.

We met with Sister Breeden again too and it went well. She came to church as well. :D

BROTHER DAVIS IS GOING TO THE TEMPLE ON WEDNESDAY!!! Finally!!! I'm telling ya, getting to the temple is the hardest thing ever for everyone ever. Geez louise. We are very excited for him.

And we saw our other recent convert, Brother Martin! He totally bore his testimony of the truthfulness of this church and I loved it. :) He came to church too!!!!!! It was the first time in forever! And his parents came(who are members as well) and it was such a sweet thing to see.

I have a new goal in life: I am going to bear my testimony every fast Sunday. Even if I don't go up there and bear it vocally, I'm going to write it down in my journal. But getting up there and bearing it is a great thing too. :)

We also taught Brother Angle the stop smoking workshop and before teaching anyone the workshop, they have to crush all of the cigarettes that they have in their house to show their commitment. It's a very difficult step. And Brother Angle had two brand new packs of cigarettes in his house. He crushed them all!!! Like, took out the cigarettes and broke them all in little pieces and put them in the trash can!!! I could not believe my eyes. He sat down and was like, "Ok, my blood sugar is really high right now..." :P Wish him luck everyone!!

And one of our members did the sweetest thing this week! She is from Provo (everyone in our ward is from Utah except like, two families, so it's kind of like home away from home :)) and we were talking last week about how much we missed Cafe Rio because it's sooo good and the closest one is 3 hours away. Everyone always gets it when they go to the temple in DC because there's one there. :P And she invited us over for dinner and cooked Cafe Rio for us!!! :'D I just about cried. She was like, "Everyone needs Cafe Rio!" :)

General Women's Conference was the best!!!!!!! I loved the talks, they were so helpful with what I needed. I know faith, hope, and love are crucial attributes for our lives here and in eternity. We can't afford not to have them. And I loved President Uchtdorf's talk. He's the greatest isn't he? I know that he, and all the others that speak in General Conference are chosen by God to lead His church. I know the President Monson is the prophet and that they are telling us what we need to know right now. We are so blessed to know that there is a prophet on the Earth today. Everyone needs to know this!!!

Favorite things from Conference:

God loves the people around you and helps them to improve. So should we.

Everyone is in need of the same Atonement.

We need to study essential doctrines!!!!

There are more ways to see than with our eyes.

Faith empowers us to act on God's will, trust in His will, and trust in His love.

The reward is not usually behind the first door.

Happy Fall Y'all!!

Sister Miller