Paul. My New Hero.

Hello, my favorite people!! How are you all doing? I would love to hear from you! Getting emails is the funnest thing as a missionary so thank you to all of you who have lifted my spirits with a quick email over the last few months. :)

I know you are practically sitting on the edge of your seat: What happened in NYC this week? Well, I won't leave you waiting.

This week we had the wonderful opportunity to do service. It was the first time in my mission that it has been allowed so far. SO I WAS ABSOLUTELY HYPED. We went to a local food pantry called "West Side Campaign Against Hunger." Sister Johnson and I lifted box after box filled with 25 lbs of food. We not only got really sore and strong, but we also felt total joy as we saw humble people from all walks of life come to the pantry to take food home to their families. My heart broke into a million pieces as I saw them thank volunteer after volunteer. These times have changed a lot for most people, and I was so grateful to be able to help the wonderful people of New York in some small way. We get to volunteer each Wednesday! I can't wait to go back next week.

We have been seeing so many miracles with our friends we are teaching this week! Both Maxwell and Briana came in-person to church which was huge! They both loved it and already committed to coming next week. It was straight miracles. Maxwell came all prepared and brought his Book of Mormon to church and he gelled right in with the priesthood in the ward. We left him for Elders Quorum and he was smiling when we caught up with him after. I am so grateful for this wonderful ward that just wraps their arms around our wonderful friends who are coming to church for the very first time.

Lately, I have been trying to understand the New Testament better. I finished reading the book of John this week and decided to jump on into the book of Acts. But before reading, I wanted to get a grasp on what was going on! I decided to read all of the chapter headings and then begin studying. The chapter heading for chapter 16 stopped me in my tracks.

"Paul is directed in a vision to preach in Macedonia—He casts an evil spirit out of a woman—He and Silas are imprisoned, and they convert the jailor—They admonish all to believe on the Lord Jesus and be saved."

Wait, what? They are imprisoned and they convert the jailor? That one line really hit me like a train. I realized that so often in my life I tell Heavenly Father that I will do His work as soon as He (fill in the blank). I tell Him that of course, I will do His will as long a He helps me get out of my own personal "jails." This one line really hit my heart with a lot of force. I hope to be a missionary like Paul. When circumstances are not ideal and I face opposition, I want to be there, in the jail, doing all I can to still praise Heavenly Father and do His will. I can just imagine Paul in the story. 

"Welp Silas, we are back in jail. Who do you think will talk to us down here?" 

Silas tentatively responds, "Ummm Paul, we are in jail. No one will listen to us." 

"Well, I am going to try."

What a missionary. What a disciple of Jesus Christ. It reminded me of a talk given in this last general conference by Elder Uchtdorf. He said, "We will endure this, yes. But we will do more than simply grit our teeth, hold on, and wait for things to return to the old normal. We will move forward, and we will be better as a result." Paul knew what it was like to put his shoulder to the wheel. He knew how to endure it well. I loved that little lesson that the Spirit helped me learn this week. I know that no matter our circumstances, we can do something wonderful with our lives. There is and always has been something to be joyful about. So this week, I am especially grateful for Paul and the disciple of Christ he was and is.

The last quick thing I want to share is from a lesson we had with our friend Eddo. Eddo has been raised in a very religious home but he kicked back on it all and decided he wasn't even sure if God exists at all. We found Eddo from Instagram and he said he was interested in learning more about what we believe. As we have shared with him, he has felt the spirit and we have seen small changes in the light inside him. This week he asked some very deep doctrinal questions. As I thought about how to answer, my response was simple: it doesn't matter. It doesn't matter what happened or what didn't happen. It doesn't matter what I don't know because what I DO KNOW trumps it all. I bore my simple testimony that there will always be things don't understand, but we have to choose faith or fear. I asked him if he was willing to choose faith. We invited him to pray vocally and to ask God the questions of his soul, and we promised him that he would receive his answers. He accepted. It was just a powerful moment for me to declare that simple truth: I don't know all things, but I do know that this is God's church and I do know that He answers our every prayer. Perhaps not in the way we had thought, but He does—because He is our loving Father. I truly do believe that for each and every one of us. If you have questions, GREAT! So did so many of the greatest minds and followers of Christ! You can count yourself among Joseph Smith, Enos, Nephi, Jeremiah, Moses, and so many others. Questions are great because they can help us really come to know God. But don't you dare let a question take you away from Him. Place your faith before your fear and remember that one day, all the pieces of the puzzle will make sense.

I just wanted to close by sharing some quick, fun updates! 

1) Being in New York City after the election was straight wild. People were going crazy everywhere. For a second, we thought we might have to be quarantined because of it all. But, thankfully not. There were parades, karaoke in the streets, spontaneous dance parties--and that is just a glimpse!

2) Sister Johnson loves counting the rats we see. Before her, I had never really cared but now it is kind of exciting haha! We have now seen a total of 25 rats since being together. Ew, but kinda cool.

3) We were the witnesses of a crazy experience on the subway this week!! A woman literally brought a PARROT onto the subway and was talking back and forth with it for a whole 5 stops. It was so wild, it was perfect. 

Well, I hope you all are doing great. Feel free to shoot me an email and I'd love to add anyone to my prayers. I love you all!! 

The church is true. 

Be happy. Be brave. Be smart. 

Love always,

Sister Miller 

Pictures:

1) WSCAH (west side campaign against hunger)

2) The wonderful potatoes I made :)

3) Tapatio hamburger. Don't doubt the power 

4) Sis Johnson and I and the statue of liberty

5) CITY LIGHTS

6) Pizza :))))

7) The ultimate district ever, like ever in front of the charging bull

8) District part 2 :)

9) Me and lady liberty! 

SISTER HAILEY MILLER!!

WOW, I LOVE YOU SO MUCH! I am so sorry I haven't responded these last couple of emails, life has been crazy! Life as a missionary gets crazier and crazier every day but it is soooo worth it! Everything is wonderful down here in Eagle Pass! Martha is progressing well and her husband wants to be baptized as well! WOOHOO! He is just waiting on results from his physical therapist to see when he can physically bend well enough to be baptized haha... but we are working a lot with part-member families and member referrals! The members down here are referral machines!!! Wow, we are so blessed! 

I am so glad you are finding a lot through Instagram! How is that going?? I am sooo proud of you!! How is everything going with training?? How is your trainee?? I am praying for you sweet girl!  You are an incredible missionary, I love your weekly emails so much and all these little updates! I am so grateful to you! 

Also, you sound like you're getting a little bit of a cold, how are you feeling?? Let me know if there is anything I can do for you, anyone I can pray for, or reach out to! I love you SOOO MUCH!! Please never forget how powerful you are. 

I found this scripture this week and I felt like I needed to share it!

Doctrine and Covenants 10:4 

4 Do not run faster or labor more than you have strength and means provided to enable you to translate, but be diligent unto the end.

You are planting the seeds for the Lord's great work, and that takes time. Don't wear yourself out too much, be diligent but don't feel like you need to do more than you're already doing. You are doing INCREDIBLE THINGS!! I love you so much, sweet girl! YOU ARE SO STRONG, YOU ARE FIERCE, YOU ARE ENOUGH!!

I love you hay bay! Go give 'em heaven this week!

All my love, Hermana Bicandi

HAYBAY,

I woke up at 4:00 a.m. this morning to catch my flight to Phoenix. It was early. My body was stiff and totally shocked as the alarm went off. It took me a good 5 minutes to get my blood pumping enough to feel like I could move. We wanted to get to the airport with enough time to get through security. (I have two bags of flour in my bag, so I can teach some cooking classes.) I thought I might be stopped. Dad laughed because I had baggies of meds too to help with my cold. He said I looked bad with meds and flour. Things could be interpreted wrong. So, early I went. All was well. It worked out. And now I’m on my second flight of the morning. One more hour and I land in Arizona.

I’m supposed to speak at Stake Conference. I’m really not sure what to speak on. They told me to choose my topic. Speak to the youth. I think that almost makes it harder. Rather than having a set topic, I have to feel inspired by a topic and then begin pondering that topic. I think I’ll speak on Letting God Prevail in our lives.

I haven’t felt as close to heaven lately. Somehow I have gotten out of the habit of daily morning scripture study. I have always eeeked in my study every day. But, it isn’t as committed and focused as it needs to be. I’m not sure if it was because I was sick and all things fell by the side, but I was surprised as I realized it. I have always studied. I have always made scripture study a priority. So, what threw me just enough that somehow it wasn’t? But it is, but it wasn’t. I still feel it is every bit as important as I did before. But, somehow I let life crowd out the essential. Do you remember the object lesson where if you have rocks and rice and the rocks represent spiritual and the rice represents the everyday worldly activities. If you do the rice (world) first, then there is no room for the rocks, but I’d you flip the order, then the rice fills in around the rocks and you have time for both? I allowed sleep and sleep to become more important. Now, don’t get me wrong. I was so so sick. I’m not beating myself up, but the Lord has given me an awakening. “Sister Miller.” He said. “Sister Miller, if you jeep letting the rice come before the rocks, you are going to lose your focus.” I heard that as I studied my scriptures one day. I was working on the rocks. But, I still needed to make it more important. So, that’s what I’m going to try to do. And as I think about speaking, I think we need to talk about keeping our focus on the rocks, letting god prevail, keep the course. Not allowing the rice to crowd out the rocks.
I think of the Brother of Jared. He was led by God. He had great faith. But, somehow after being led to a beautiful oasis, he stopped praying. He had to repent and start again. The cool thing is that God quickly forgave and he was on track again. God does that for us too. We just need to keep checking and evaluating and the Lord will keep opening his arms to our efforts. I totally get the brother of Jared. It’s easy to let things fall, but once we commit. Really commit. The lord does something with us. He changes us. He makes us new. I think having my book looming over me causes me to stumble. I get discouraged that I am not done. And then I allow myself to believe that I am failing. These thoughts come from Satan. God just wants our heart and with our heart, our effort. God loves effort. We have to keep pushing on. Don’t you quit keeps playing in my head. Don’t you dare give up. Just keep swimming.

Anyways, that’s a ramble. 
Just thoughts.

I want to continue my quest to Jesus even more than ever. I want to be in the group that really knows Him. And when I meet him, I’m not going to look around ashamed, but I’m going to fall at His feet. And my tears of joy will overflow my eyes and I will know that coming to know Him was the best possible use of my time. More than exercise. More than piano lessons for the kids. More than grocery shopping. More than anything.

I’m not sure I’m looking forward to this week. I don’t really feel , but I look forward to the paycheck and putting money away for Amber’s senior trip. That will be nice.

I love you, sweetie. Sorry for the delay on food. I decided to email you today so you didn’t have to wait a week. I’ll try to send little messages along the way. Even with the crazy.

Love you, Mom

Ok. So... let’s start with the good news...

A boy asked for my number!!! His name is Landon and he is from pole vaulting. He’s a member of the church and he’s super nice. We’ve been texting a lot, and it’s been a party!!!

Next. Sort of bad news...

Pre-calc is hard and my teacher stinks. Mr. Miraya has Covid and is super confusing. And I’m just stressed overall. It’s just kind of a disaster at school. Oh well...I’m sure they will figure it all out soon....hopefully.

Also, one of my friends brought me cookies for kindness day!!! I wish I could do more. People are getting bullied all the time at school and at church and I want to do something to make a difference. Sister Wilkey said that Garrett eats by himself every day. I told her that he could come to sit with us. Idk. I feel bad. I feel like I can be better. I hope your week was good. I see you on Instagram and am happy!! I love you and I miss you!
You got this!

Love, Amber

Ok....
Remember that boy that asked for my number?

Welp. It gets better

We’ve been texting a lot and I texted him today and asked if he was doing anything fun today. He responded with that he was bored. And I said I was too. Then he asked if I wanted to hang out. I said sure and he said that I should find some friends. So I asked Sami and she said yes. He then said that we should go to vertical view. I said sounds fun. Then I asked him if he found friends and he said that he didn’t know that he was supposed to.

Moral of the story. I thought I was going on a date. Now I’m not sure. Oh well... how awkward could tonight really be.

Hahaha. But wait. It gets better...
He asked me to go to ice cream before Sami meets up. So it’s a date?? And I asked dad and he said yes. Even tho it is kinda a single date. If it’s a date? IDK ANYMORE!!!!

So...hopefully, your week is less awkward than mine.
I love you!!!!!
Amber

Hi Hailey,

 

Guess what?  It snowed here this week.  It actually snowed a bunch last Monday.  Actually, now that I think about it, I showed it to you.  So I guess that is not really news.  It was so funny though.  Jake is complaining about all the Christmas stuff before Thanksgiving.  Then I found him wandering around singing Christmas songs.  When I questioned him, he said now that there is snow, it just felt right.  He is such a goofy kid.  The boys were not very nice to him at Mutual on Thursday. I just need to somehow teach Jake to deal with teenage boys. 

 

So big news. The Mandalorian is back!! I mean I don’t want to spoil it or anything, but I am totally going to spoil it.  Bo Katan, the Mandalorian heir to the Crown from the Clone Wars, shows up and tells the Mandalorian that Asoka Tano is alive!!!!  Totally awesome?!?! I know!!!  My mind was blown!!

 

Well, Texas is off so I don’t have to be depressed tomorrow.  BYU is also off.  Most college football appears to be canceled due to Covid.  Dumb Covid ruins everything.  Man U is also off.  It is an international break. 

 

You will have to let me know what you want from Chipotle on Monday.  I will hook you up.  I got hosed into taking the kids to Red Robin tonight.  Amber was sad.  So she got a bottomless root beer float.   I must be a sucker.  This is what you get when mom is gone.  I guess mom was on TV in Arizona today for pinners.  She is so cute.  Makes me laugh.  I need to google it and see if I can find it.  She taught classes and

 

So how goes the whole teaching the gospel thing?  You finding new people?  We keep praying for you.  I really like your letters.  They are great.  I have been missing my daily dose of Thanksgiving because Mom is gone and I don’t have Facebook.  Kind of a bummer.  But I really like your Instagram posts.  They are also great. Keep it up.   

 

I did a little digging and we can totally go to Philadelphia.  No long quarantine, they just require you to wear a mask at all times.  so tell your mission pres you want to make a Jan trip to Philly.  I will take your mom to see the liberty bell and the Rocky statue in front of the library.  Not as cool in NYC, but it will work.  I am excited for you to go to the Temple.  It is very peaceful. 

 

Well, I don’t know what else is going on.  I need to go kick your bro to bed.  I love you lots.  Have a great day!  Baptize the crap out of that city!!

Love, Dad