Power in Prayer

HELLO WORLD! This was one of the fastest weeks of my entire life. I have no idea how it is already p-day again, but AHH here we are haha!

I honestly have no idea where to begin this week. I feel like my brain is spaghetti noodles! But bear with me as I run through some highlights. 

We had a million little miracles this week. One of those is with a sweet mom we are teaching, Rashita. Rashita is a powerhouse of a woman and has such a desire to learn more about God. Right before her lesson, Sister Barnum and I both felt like what we had planned to share with her was not right. We knelt in prayer and asked the Lord to lead us to what we needed to share. As the prayer ended, Sister Barnum shared that she felt like we needed to share the story of the tree of life. As she spoke, the Spirit confirmed to me that that was correct. As we went into the lesson, the Spirit guided every single moment. It was one of the most powerful lessons I have ever been able to be a part of. She was able to disclose a few different times that this was exactly what she needed to hear. It was such a powerful testament to me that this is the Lord's work, and if we seek Him, He really will guide our every step. That lesson was taught by the Spirit, not two teenage girls. It was truly wonderful.

In other news, Nikki is getting baptized this Saturday!! We are so excited for her. She is so prepared and ready. When we talked about the temple this week she was like: "WAIT, I CAN MAKE MORE COVENANTS WITH GOD?" She was so excited to learn that baptism is only the gate and she can grow even closer to God. It was so special to see her excited. Please keep Nikki in your prayers this week as she prepares for her baptism.

Recently I have just been feeling so grateful. Grateful to be a missionary. Grateful to know my Savior. Grateful to hear the words of prophets and apostles. Grateful to live in America. Grateful to be here in New York. Grateful to have such a wonderful family that supports me. Grateful to have each and every one of you. My life is a series of tender mercies! Time and time again I have seen the Lord bless me in ways I never thought possible. He is miraculous. 

One more quick story! We were teaching Arlie this week and we asked her why she wanted to be baptized and she goes, "TO FOLLOW GOD OF COURSE! WHY CAN'T I BE BAPTIZED TOMORRROWWWWW?" She is so ready and so prepared. Our only challenge currently is getting her to church. Please pray for Arlie's family to be able to help get her there. It has been a struggle, and she is so ready for baptism.

My spiritual thought this week comes from a talk by Neal A Maxwell. (If you haven't read his talks, go do it right now. They always leave me PUMPED to be a disciple of Jesus Christ.) In speaking of our purpose here on earth, Elder Maxwell proclaims: "As we confront our own lesser trials and tribulations, we too can plead with the Father, just as Jesus did, that we “might not … shrink”—meaning to retreat or to recoil (D&C 19:18). Not shrinking is much more important than surviving! Moreover, partaking of a bitter cup without becoming bitter is likewise part of the emulation of Jesus." Our lives will always have their fair share of bumps and detours. There will be times when we want to cry out, "Why me?" But a friend of mine pointed me to a quote I now love. When trials and disappointments come we can choose to respond in a higher and holier pattern. "I understand, Lord. I know what this is. A time to prove myself, isn’t it?” Then partner with Him to endure well to the end." We can drink the bitter cup and not become bitter, only as we place our absolute faith in our Lord, Jesus Christ, and partner with Him until the end. We can overcome any heartache or trial if we do it with Him by our side.

Heavenly Father is so good. Life is beautiful. There will always be hard days, but there are far more wonderful days than bad. And when the going gets tough, we can put our shoulder to the wheel and "press along". I love you all and I am here for you. Let me know who I can pray for! I believe in the power of prayer. 

The church is true. 

Be happy. Be brave. Be smart.

Love ALWAYS,

Sister Miller

Hay Bay, 

I’ve been thinking of emailing you all week, but I have had nothing to report. Honestly, life has marched on as normal. School. Home. School. Back and forth.

I worked hard on the book this week. I’ve almost edited chapter 2 to my liking. I feel like it’s never-ending but also so close to being done.

I looked up how to publish it. I feel pretty confident about it. I truly do. I am feeling as if God will create miracles.

Dad and I have been studying house plans all week. We’ve been trying to prioritize what we want and what we think is most important. We went to lunch with Jennifer and Justin and I told them I wanted to move into someone’s house who was going on a mission. Very generously, they offered to allow us to stay at their house so we can sell ourselves house and build a new house.

We won’t. But, it was kind.

We are fasting tomorrow. So, we don’t have to fast on Amber’s birthday. . We go to the cabin next week to celebrate. She is missing DYW. I suppose it will be ok.

I love you so much. Super proud of you. Hope all is well. I messaged Tierra as you asked. She was appreciative.

Love, Mom

Hey Little Girl,

 

What are you up to?  Hopefully, you had a great day at church and all your friends came.  I assume you had a baptism yesterday and it was awesome.  You will have to tell us all about it tomorrow.  Baptisms really do have the best spirit.  Hope this one was awesome.

 

I went to the church tonight to print a check.  On the way home, I heard the song “Even though I’m Leaving.”  It reminded me that my little girl left and went far away and that I had not written to her yet this week.  But I hope you know that I am always here for you. And that I will always be there with you.  Even if you say on Facebook live chats that your mom is your favorite.  BTW, saying your mom is your favorite is the right answer.  She misses you so much.  On Thursday she was moping around because she was missing you.  Apparently, a dirty diet coke fixes missing Hailey.  In other funny news, Jake set five places at the table tonight.  We had a giggle and a tear.  In funnier news, Jake complained that we had “Light Brown Sugar.”  He declared that “Heavy Brown Sugar is that best!” We then laughed a lot since it is not “heavy”, but “dark” and he not only did not know but was willing to declare the imaginary one the best.  Good times.

 

Well on to important stuff.  ManU lost once and tied once this week.  We are still second in the table, but now City is ahead by 4 points and they have a game in hand.  Not good.  I hate City.  At least we are still ahead of Liverpool. 

 

So your mom thinks we need to sell our house right now.  The market does seem insane and it would be a good time to sell, but we kind of need a place to live.  A tent on the lot seems like a bad idea.  She keeps telling people she wants to move out.  That got us an invitation from the Forsbergs to come live with them.  This is rings of insanity at this point.  I think it would be foolish to try to move before our house is built, so I am pretty sure you will come home to this house in December.  We fasted about timing today.  I think we have a good plan now.  Normally we fast on Fast Sunday, but that is Amber’s Birthday.  Amber did not think Fast Sunday and her birthday mixed very well.  She was really disgruntled about the whole thing.  She is a funny kid.  Food is definitely the way to her heart.

 

Speaking of food, are you getting fed.  I forgot to see about a Costco membership for you.  I will have to put a reminder on my phone so that I don’t forget. 

 

Well, I think that is all the exciting news.  Mom came along and read my email.  She calls me names, but I like her. 

 

Love you lots.

HAILEY,
Guess who made state!!!
That’s meeeeeeee!!
It’s for bowling. We did it! Our team made state! We went to the competition and there were only 3 teams and the top 3 teams got to go to state. We didn’t even have to compete technically. . But it was a party.

Ok. I know I jump all over the place. But it’s what I do. Next exciting thing of the week:

It’s a new semester starting this week. Hallelujah! I’m so sick of math. My head hurts every day! My new classes will be a little lame. I now have to write essays. Gross. But it’ll be good!! And I’m going to have seminary again!! With brother sell!! Yay!! I’m a little sad because Sami and I would have been in the same seminary class, but we are on different teams. Which stinks. But it’s fine. I’ll also have History with Mr. Miraya again!! Yay! I love that guy. He’s also one of our bowling coaches so that’s fun. Anyways. That’s all for school

Next thing:

I’m really nervous about pole vaulting. I haven’t been in a while. It’s kinda stressful going for the first time in forever. I’m sure it’ll be great, but I’m just a little nervous.

Ok. That was short, next thing:

Distinguished young women. It’s coming!! I have to cram for talent. I’m really worried that I won’t be able to play my song fast enough. Also, the fitness routine is super hard. Mom says it’s unnecessarily hard. There’s tons of flexibility and balance crap and we have to do like 10 push-ups. I mean. It’s fine, I’ll be able to do it, it’s just a pain.

Ok. I think that been my week. Pretty uneventful. I hope your week was great!! I can’t wait to talk to you tomorrow!!!
Love you!
Amber