Born to Succeed!

 I swear, I blinked and another week has gone by! The weeks fly by my friends!

This week was totally, absolutely crazy! 

I'll just share a few highlights of the week! 

We had a crazy experience this week as we tried to do a Book of Mormon drop off! As we were on our way, a man started following us and yelling at us. As we quickened our pace, he matched ours. We were able to get inside a building and lock the door behind us. As we climbed the stairs to drop off the Book of Mormon, Sister Lines and I had to take a moment and ponder how we were going to get out of this apartment complex. We dropped off the Book of Mormon and headed back down the stairs. The man was right outside the door and this was the only exit. We took a moment to say a prayer. We needed to get home and we knew that this man couldn't know where our home was. The moment we started praying, peace-filled the hallway. As we finished the prayer, Sister Lines looked at me and told me the plan. We were to run around the corner and down 4 blocks. She said that he wouldn't follow us if we did that. On the count of 3, we opened the door and did just that. I kept looking over my shoulder and noticed that that man never even left his position against the wall. It was almost as if he didn't see or hear us leave. We were protected by God. I have no doubt. It was so cool for me to see the Lord literally cover this man's eyes and allow us to make it home in safety. I know God was watching out for us. 

Later on this week, we had a lesson with our friend Zoila!! Who is doing so so well! She also invited her sister Rammy to join and it was awesome. But at the end of the lesson, I felt slightly discouraged. I felt I hadn't said the right things and that maybe I had messed it up. That night as I was praying, I asked God to help me in the future with their lessons. In that moment, a scripture came to mind. It is in Alma 37:6-7. It says, "Behold I say unto you, that by small and simple things are great things brought to pass; and small means in many instances doth confound the wise. And the Lord God doth work by means to bring about his great and eternal purposes; and by very small means the Lord doth confound the wise and bringeth about the salvation of many souls." And in that moment, I felt as if the Lord said to me: "Sister Miller, you may be a 'small and simple thing' but don't doubt my power. I have the power to work through you. Don't doubt my power to do that." I was dumbfounded. I realized in that moment that although I am imperfect and I will never be a perfect teacher, Jesus Christ is! My role is not to say the perfect things and flawlessly explain every principle, but my role is to invite the Spirit and let God work through me. Even though I am small and simple. It was a truly powerful moment for me to realize that Christ's grace is sufficient for me. He can fill my holes and make me more as I choose to rely on Him!! 

In other news, Anna had her baptismal interview this week!! It was so awesome. She did so well and testified of each point. She loves the gospel and is so ready. As she finished up her interview on Thursday, we were just so happy for her to take this next step. I don't know how many of you are aware of the stress of "baptism week", but among missionaries, we know that all that can go wrong, will go wrong. As Anna finished up her interview, baptism week started. Within ten minutes, we got a concerning text from Anna telling us that her cousin would like to speak with us. We called and her cousin yelled at us and told us that Anna couldn't get baptized and all this really crazy stuff. We were able to diffuse the bomb and comfort her cousin. It was then that I realized that Satan is aware of us. He wants nothing more than to tear us down and he will stop at nothing to do it! When he knows that we are going to make a choice that will lead to our salvation, he will scratch, bite, and fight to keep us from making that choice. Anna is now facing family opposition that wasn't there before. We know this has added stress for her. Please add Anna to your prayers. Pray for her to have peace and comfort and that we will know how we can better help her. We love Anna. 

Okay also, we had the craziest P-day miracle this week. Sister Lines and I have a goal to say hello to everyone we pass in the street. So as we were on our way to the laundromat (the whole 200 yards from our apartment) we said hello to everyone! As we rounded the corner (now only 100 yards away from the laundromat) a woman stopped us! She asked, "Are you the Sisters?" To which we responded, "Yes we are!!" She quickly explained that she had been meeting with the sisters in the area and then changed her phone number! She had tried to get in contact with them again but never was able to. She asked if we could meet sometime this week!! SAY WHAT! Well, we frantically searched for our phones only to realize we both left them at the apartment. She said she would text us right then and there so we could have her phone number. It was perfect. We said goodbye and promised to contact her soon! As we walked away I kept whispering, "Sister Lines, that was a miracle" to which she would say "100%, God is so so good". To top that off, we get inside the laundromat and another woman said THE SAME THING TO US! SHE SAID SHE HAD BEEN LOOKING TO GET IN CONTACT WITH US AS WELL. Sister Lines and I were blown away. We took down her number and promised to get in contact with her shortly. As we walked away from the laundromat today I told Sister Lines that "We should come to the laundromat every day!!" This truly was a miracle and a huge tender mercy to be a part of! God is so so good. 

The last thing I want to share is my spiritual thought for the week! I was reading a general conference talk from 1972 called "Know thyself, control thyself, give thyself." He was speaking to the men of the church, but it applies to us all. He said, "To know thyself is to come to know that you and I as priesthood bearers are literally the offspring of Deity; and that means, young men, that you and I were born to succeed; that in the preexistence you and I earned a right by our faithfulness and by our commitment to worthy principles to come into mortality in order that we might learn through the priesthood how to become like our Father. That means if I understand the gospel correctly, that there isn’t one single failure among us. The word can’t is false doctrine in the Mormon Church." I love love love this. I love how he pointed out that we were literally born to succeed. We were born to become like our Heavenly Father. There is no mountain we cannot climb, no battle too hard to bear if we turn to Jesus Christ and work with Him to accomplish it. It gives me so much peace to know that I was born to be great, I am literally the daughter of our Heavenly King! As are the rest of you!

I just want to share that God knows us. He loves us. If things seem incredibly hard, remember that Satan came to Jesus at the end of his 40-day fast. Satan fought against Joseph Smith as he tried to open his mouth in prayer. Don't give up. Keep trusting and believing. God is cheering us on every day. Besides, we were born to succeed. 

I love you all so much. You are the sunshine in my life! And I pray for you daily. 

The church is true my friends!

Be happy. Be brave. Be smart. 

Love, Sister Miller 

Miscellaneous Miracles:

1) We FOUND 3 PEOPLE TO TEACH this week!!

2) One of our recent converts is sharing the gospel with her cousin!! Woot woot for Suleydis!

3) We are starting a Facebook series on our FB page! (The Church of Jesus Christ in Manhattan!)

& so many countless others!! 

PICTURES: 

•WE WENT TO THE EMPIRE STATE BUILDING! It was spectacular. We went as a district!

•Sister Benefield and I in front of the empire state building!! 

•Sister Lines and I with McDonald's and Taco Bell

•GRAND CENTRAL STATION!!

•The east sisters with the west sisters! Can anyone think of a better combo? Not I! 

• One last picture from the last P-Day of Sister Benefield, Sister Randall, and I at the High Line.  

Dear Sister Miller,

Today I am writing to you from Emerald Isle. NC.  We have been coming here for over 10 years and love it.  This year there are only 8 adults and 11 of the grandkids so it is really relaxing. It is a beautiful place and we love coming especially because in small and simple ways I can bear my testimony.  I have some children who are not active in the church because of one reason or another, but a free vacation gets them here, and without pushing they listen. It’s easy to bear testimony when you're sitting on the beach looking at the beauty the Lord has given us. When I think about what I want my children and grandchildren to remember about me is that Grandma Seeley loved the Lord and the gospel. So excited that you are having such success.  Keep up the hard work! Most important remember that you, Sister Miller were sent to New York to reach the one! Years ago I was a Relief Society President in California.  In a council meeting, the missionaries at the time were frustrated with a family they were teaching. The couple they were teaching were highly educated And very wealthy so the smartest and most experienced missionaries were teaching them, I think they were the zone leaders. One day the zone leaders got called away for another assignment so another set of missionaries were sent there. These missionaries were very sweet but did not know the gospel at all. I think they were both from humble backgrounds so their social graces were lacking as well. When I heard that they were goi g to go I could t help but think it would be the last time this couple would be seen. Well, the couple loved these two missionaries and wanted them to come back. The couple did get baptized and the sister bore testimony that they’d had great missionaries, but they felt like the last two really had to rely on the Lord to teach them.  So see don’t doubt yourself because your love for the Savior will shine through. 

You are in my prayers. Stay safe and know that as you recognize the Lord's hand in keeping you safe and helping you find people, He will even be there more. 

Love you, 
Aunt Cindy
Cherish every day!

HayBay,
We are in Idaho Falls right now. We are preparing for Eric’s reception. It still kills me that he only invites people through social media. I still kinda feel like I’m a huge blessing to him that I even showed up. Even though, I’m not sure he even cares 🤣. With all those thoughts in mind, Sheri said he has a fever today and that he had signs of COVID. Instead of letting Jake spend the day with grandpa, I made Jake hang out with dad and pretty much sit around all day because I didn’t want him to be by Eric. But—never fear—Eric showed up here. He reached out to give me a hug and I said, “No sir—you stay over there. I don’t want COVID.” To which he responded that he wasn’t sick and it was a false alarm. To which I said, “How is a fever a false alarm?”

I’m not sure what he said after that. I tried to make light of it, but I was serious all at the same time. I really want to keep living my life right now. Covid would be inconvenient. Plus, I want to come to your endowment. I hear that parents are being invited all over the US to meet their missionaries. I’m trying to keep us clean.

Some people just don’t think it’s a big deal. It’s crazy how everyone feels differently.

We floated the river today with Michelle. It was fun. It was nice to just do things with girls.

I keep assuming that no news is good news, so I am assuming all is well with you. I am still praying for you. 

I am sure there is more to tell, but I can’t think of it right now. I think I’m still trying to catch up on sleep from the night you were in the hospital and I tried waiting up for you. It was a long night. And then my phone wouldn’t answer when you called...

Love you to the moon and back.
Love, Mom

P.S. There were Moose that just hung out by us as we floated. Way close. Too fun.

Hey Hailey,

I love you. I was just wondering how’s it going with your mission. Liked your experience about how Heavenly Father is helping you with the creepy man. I also liked your talk. Mom and I listened to it. It was good. 

I went up to the ranch with grandpa and we worked on the combines and gathered wood. I did a backflip for the first time. I nearly killed myself a few times. One is the times I almost broke my teeth because my jaw was open and I hit my head hard. I kept on doing it because I didn’t want to end on a bad note and also I wanted to land it. I felt great when I finally landed it. Amber was so excited she gave me a high five and said I was brave. 

I love you, Hailey. I hope you’re doing good in New York. 

Love, 

Jake

Hailey!!
Wow. I lost track of days this week. We are up at Idaho falls right now for Eric’s reception. Except...Eric might have corona. But he thinks he doesn’t. It will be very unfortunate if he does. I loved your email this week!! Although that creepy guy still scares me. I’m sorry about your tummy too! It’s good that you didn’t have to get your appendix out. That would have stunk and I’m super happy that the pain is gone!! Guess what!! So after we went to Lake Powell I was convinced that Rae hated me, but...apparently, she’s been talking about me every day!! I’ve had some fun with her but she’s A LOT of work. I’m missing you like crazy!!! I love you!!! What adventures did you have this week!? I’m excited to hear from them on Monday!!!!
Love,
Amber!!!!!
Ps. Love you goodnight!