Hartford, CT & Lynbrook & the BRONX???

 HELLLLO WORLD! What is up?? 

Today was probably one of the best days of my whole life!!! I JUST WENT THROUGH THE TEMPLE! My heart is so full of happiness. 

I'll get into that towards the end, but let me first just share about my week! 

Lynbrook has been amazing. I love it with my whole heart. Changing from the city has been a little hard but the people are just so so good. Everyone from Lynbrook calls it "the village." It is so cute, and so small, and definitely a village. I have somewhat grown accustomed to the noises of the city, so at night when I try to fall asleep, I'm finding it difficult to only hear silence rather than the bustling noises of Manhattan, despite that this "village" is already winning over my heart, and I am loving it. 

My companion is Sister Barnum!! She is awesome. She's from California but was originally called to Vietnam. She's teaching me Vietnamese ;) so watch out world, I'm going to be bilingual in 6 weeks! 

Well we have miracles on top of miracles happening here in Lynbrook. We are teaching this cute 9-year old named Arlie. She is preparing for baptism in a few weeks and she is sooo excited. We can't wait to help her get there. When we taught her this week, she just kept saying, "Are you sure I can't be baptized sooner?" Arlie is so precious. I love that her testimony is so strong. She's such an example.

We are also helping our friend Nicki prepare for baptism. She has had a hard life with many trials that have been thrown her way. Nonetheless, she has such strong faith in Christ. She believes that He will always get her through, which is so true. This week she said the cutest thing: "He is always in our corner, even if we don't always recognize it." Amen to that Nicki! God is so good to us always. 

Quick funny story: our car was in the shop this week and we needed to go pick it up! (And I'm the driver--which is tough after 6 months of only riding the subway! Haha!) We loaded into the car and began making the trek from long island to white plains. On our ride back, we realized we had a lesson, and we needed to pull over to do it. I tried to exit, but only to realize it wasn't an exit! It was a new part of the freeway. The soonest we were able to exit was a few more miles down the road and before we knew it, we had pulled over at a gas station in the BRONX to do a lesson on zoom. BUT THE GOOD NEWS is we made it home, safe and sound and lesson accomplished! 

Back to today!

Today was wonderful. I have been waiting for this day for practically a year. My heart has ached and worried as I hoped to enter, month after month. The blessing of it all is that my amazing parents were able to fly out and go through with me. The endowment was wonderful and I had so much peace fill my heart. As I entered the Celestial Room, to see my parents sitting there, my emotions could no longer be contained!! Tears flowed from my eyes as I recognized that the covenants I had just made would unite me eternally to my family. It was the purest moment of happiness I have yet experienced in this life. I know that temples are God's house on the earth. They are our place to come closer to Him and seek His will in all things. If you haven't yet gone through the temple, I would invite you to ponder what blessings you feel like you could gain from it, and begin preparing to receive those blessings. If you have not heard of the temple, message me and let's learn more together! The temple is His holy home, and today I got to experience that with my family. :)

Saying goodbye to my family was hard but also so sweet. I'm on my way to go help God's children continue making covenants with Him. And THAT'S THE BEST JOB EVER!! It is worth every sacrifice. 

My spiritual thought this week is from a quote I read recently. “No matter how serious the trial, how deep the distress, how great the affliction, [God] will never desert us. He never has, and He never will. He cannot do it. It is not His character [to do so]. … He will [always] stand by us. We may pass through the fiery furnace; we may pass through deep waters; but we shall not be consumed nor overwhelmed. We shall emerge from all these trials and difficulties the better and purer for them.” (George Q Cannon) 

I know He will never desert us. He loves us infinitely. And if you have trouble remembering that, trust me. I know, without a shadow of a doubt. You are not only known, but you are loved. You are not only seen, but you are heard. You are not only a child of God, but His child. His love for each of us is beyond comprehension. I am forever grateful for a Heavenly Father who makes beautiful things out of the dust of the earth each and every day!!

If I don't get to email you all back today I am SO SORRY! Today was the temple trip so it is a little crazy. I promise to email next week. 

I love you all, keep being amazing. 

THE CHURCH IS TRUE!

Be happy. Be brave. Be smart. 

Love, 

Sister Miller 

1-4) My Goodbye to Manhattan & Sister Johnson
5) Hello Sister Barnum 

6-7) Long Beach
8) Cute Arlie

9-10) TEMPLE with MY FAMILY