What do you believe God can do?

Hey everyone! So much happened this week, so enjoy the many different stories!! 

Honestly, Tuesday was tough. We had several lessons planned and every single lesson was canceled. We tried calling people for a few hours as well and we only had ONE person answer haha!! The one person who answered didn't even speak English, so afterward Sister Barnum and I just laughed and laughed. You can either laugh or cry. And in the words of Marjorie Pay Hinckley, "I prefer to laugh. Crying gives me a headache." Amen Sister Hinckley.

Wednesday, we had an amazing miracle. We had been trying to get in touch with our friend Kay for over 2 weeks, so Sister Barnum and I decided to have an on-the-spot lesson and invited a recent convert named Jenny to join. And then the magic happened. We sat back and watched Jenny teach Kay and vice versa. By the end, they were both in tears and eagerly looking forward to talking more. I was so astonished by the magnificence of the Spirit for directing that perfect match. We are excited to continue helping Kay progress. Please add her to your prayers.

Friday was the BEST DAY EVER. 

Let me break it down for ya. 

We had an in-person devotional with President and Sister Teuscher and they talked a lot about how setting goals allows us to bless the lives of those around us in ways we could not without them. We then set a pretty big goal as a mission. 40, 40, 40, 50, 50, 50. We are going to help 40 people in the next three months enter the waters of baptism, and the following three months we will help 50. What a wonderful goal. President Teuscher followed this up with, "What do you believe GOD can do? This is not about us. This is about Him." 

I know that in this wonderful city God is preparing people to receive the restored gospel of Jesus Christ every day. I am so excited to help His children in every way that I possibly can. It reminded me of a scripture in the Book of Mormon. It is in Jacob 4:6, "and having all these witnesses we obtain a hope, and our faith becometh unshaken, insomuch that we truly can command in the name of Jesus and the very trees obey us, or the mountains, or the waves of the sea." When we have faith, we can do ALL things with His help. 

With that being said, we really do need His help and so we have been asked to employ the power of prayer to the best of our ability. WE NEED YOUR HELP. We have been asked to pray every night for all of God's children in New York City to receive the restored gospel of Jesus Christ. I know that this small simple task will work miracles for many. In fact, it already has. PLEASE, PLEASE PRAY.

Later that night we had yet another wonderful lesson with our friend Giancarlo. We invited a member to join, and it was perfect. Everything that he said was exactly what Giancarlo needed to hear. The spirit was tangible as we testified of the restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ. As the lesson neared the end, we invited Giancarlo to read and pray--to ask God if what we are sharing is true. He immediately accepted this invitation with tears in his eyes. It was then that the spirit impressed me to say this, "Giancarlo, when you find out that this is true, will you be baptized into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints?" Looking up at us, he whispered, "You want me? Even after all I've done?" "Yes, Giancarlo--we not only want you, but God needs you." A smile flashed across his face. "Yes, absolutely." It was so special to be a part of that moment. My heart filled with so much love, it is hard to describe. I just feel so grateful to be a missionary. God really does love us all. In the words of Jeffrey, our wonderful member, "It doesn't really matter where we've been. All that matters is where we are GOING." 

And if that wasn't enough miracle for the night, Jeffrey volunteered to buy us dinner and he ran a whole half a mile to buy it. Sister Barnum and I had originally wanted to go to pizza but he volunteered to buy us burgers--and we were not going to decline his offer. BUT THEN HE POINTED OUT A PIZZA RESTAURANT and said, "would you ladies like that instead?" What a miracle. Such a tender mercy--and I am so grateful for such wonderful members that have made me feel right at home here in Lynbrook. Another member, Sister Wang, made sure to make us homemade dumplings for the Chinese New Year. It was the cutest thing!! I am so very blessed.

Now on to the sad news. 

Sister Barnum and I were sure we were going to have another transfer together but President pulled a quick one on us and she is headed to Staten Island on Tuesday. I know she is going to do wonderful things, but I am not ready to say goodbye!! Heavenly Father has really blessed me in the companionship department and goodbyes are not my forte. But I am really grateful for all that Sister Barnum taught me and the light she is. I can't wait to see the good she will do in Staten.

Miracles are really happening. We are going to hopefully start teaching two families here in Lynbrook. It's amazing to see that this really is God's work and He provides time and time again.

For my spiritual thought, I wanted to share a quote I read by Neal A Maxwell. 

“If we choose … the course of discipleship, we will … move from what may be initially a mere acknowledgment of Jesus on to admiration of Jesus, then on to adoration of Jesus, and finally to emulation of Jesus. In that process of striving to become more like Him …, we must be in the posture of repentance.”

I love this. Before I came out on my mission, I took a mission prep class at BYU. My teacher, Brother Mullen, used to say something to this effect. "The only way to heaven is constant, daily repentance. If I want to be famous for any one thing--I want to go down in the repenter's hall of fame." I love that. Repentance is not only needed, but it is liberating. It is freeing. And repentance is joy. SO GO REPENT! Your life will be better, I promise. 

Well, it's been another fantastic week and I know next week will be the same. Why? Because God wants it to be. He wants it for each of us.

I know the gospel is true. 

Be happy. Be brave. Be smart.

Love always,

Sister Miller

1. SNOW ON THE BEACH

2. the district saying bye:,(

3. Love the sweet sisters in my zone 

4. Dumplings to celebrate the Chinese New Year! 

5. Sister Barnum saying goodbye to Nikki

6. And our man John :(

7. Zone Leadership Team!!

8. A picture I love. 

HayBay,

And I’m off...

Something that Covid has taught me is to hold your feelings near just in case it doesn’t happen. I haven’t allowed myself to truly be excited about this trip as I was waiting to see if I would get sick. Or something else would happen...

Last night it started snowing. It was supposed to snow all night. Even then I was worried that the snow would hold me home. Not Covid, but snow.

I’ve been pondering it. I wonder if I have learned to brace myself for disappointment. Not sure I like that. But, I also don’t know how to change it.

I think I was severely disappointed when initially we didn’t go through the temple with you. I still had faith. I completely believed it would all work out. And to be honest, I wasn’t mad. At all. I completely trusted. That didn’t change the fact that I was disappointed. I was.

When we long for things, it’s hard to get our hopes up and then have them crash down. Sometimes I think we guard our hearts against that.

I wonder if people who are seeking the truth could feel similarly. Perhaps, they are guarding their hearts for fear that their hope's won’t be realized. And if it is not true, then they won’t be hurt by the belief.

Funny, uh.

How do we find the balance between letting our hearts rejoice and keeping the faith and trust when what we desire doesn’t happen?

My conclusion: pray. Trusting in Him will always lead us right. Even if it is something silly like a Mexico trip, we can pray and it will bring peace. If it is something so much important than that, we can pray and it will bring peace. Prayer will fix the gap between our hearts our hopes and our faith. It will resolve our concerns and our disappointments. It will broaden our understanding. Communicating with God is the way to peace.


Well... just my thoughts for the morning. In other news, I woke up this morning at 3 am, and couldn’t go back to sleep because my brain kept thinking I only had an hour left. I hate it when that happens. Haha! But, maybe I can get some sleep on flights.

It’s funny. I somehow miss the kids. I haven’t even left and I want to go snuggle them. I’m so grateful for our family. The love we have. The people you’ve all become. The joy we have together. We are blessed.

Love you forever.
Miss you like crazy.
Proud of your work.
Love, Mom

Hi Little Girl,

 

How is the new companion?  I saw that both you and Sister Barnum had posted goodbye messages that were sweet.  Change is always tough, but it tends to be good for us.  We learn from all the people we work with, so there is always some good that can come from change, even if it is uncomfortable.   

 

I have been praying for the 40-40-40-50-50-50 goal.   Also for John Carlo.  Sounds like you are ripping it up again.  Keep finding those golden contacts.  It is so cool to be a missionary when you find those people who are ready to accept the gospel. 

 

I think the journal entry you shared with us on Monday touched Amber.  Maybe it just invited the spirit and it kicked her in the bum.  Anyway, in FHE she told us she feels like she needs to serve a mission, even though she doesn’t really want to.  She wants to get called to upstate NY.  Serve at Palmyra historical sites.   She is a funny kid.  Thanks for your example.  It was great.  

 

Well, we did not get to talk about the important stuff on Monday, so I will update you.  United tied again with a not-great team.  Not a good result.  City won again.  City is 7 points ahead and United will have to get some luck if it is going to catch them.  Good news is Liverpool is falling apart.  They 5 points behind United now.  I have not seen anything about BYU or Texas in a while.  It is basketball season and I just don’t care very much.  But the Utah Jazz are killing it.  Number 1 team in the west.  Probably #1 in the league.  Again, basketball, so it is not that exciting. I guess it gives me something to think about until football gets back.   

 

Well, that is it from here.  I just work all the time.  We are boring.  Snow is melting. Kids in school.  Mom going to Mexico.  That is all.

 

Have fun and work hard,

Dad

Wow. Another week has gone by. But...I’m earlier this week with my letter!!

Let’s start with school. Galloway. That’s all I have to say. Galloway. I have a 90% in her class right now and she failed to tell us that we cannot redo anything. Hahahaha. My life. But it’s fine. I am going to do extra credit. I might need your help with that btw so on Monday... We also had registration this week. Is  AP Government hard? Did you take it or regular government? Idk it’s hard to decide what to do. Life is tricky. Oh and one more thing about school...we have a student teacher in Mirayas class, right? And he is not nice because he gives me bad grades. I have a 91 in that class and I would have a 100 if it was Miraya. But I guess I’ll survive that too.

Ok. So I did DYW this week. It was our mock talent and interview. Idk what happened in the talent but I was a wreck. I was shaking so bad that I couldn’t play the notes or lift the pedal. And I wasn’t even that nervous. It was crazy. But I made it through the song and survived. Then I did the interview and it went great!! They told me I did really well and I think I’m going to do well in the real one too.

Sami and I are working on our hot dogs. It’s been fun. I think we have a menu and it should be really good!!

Last thing. I had bowling state this week!! We got 5th. Which is pretty fun. I’m so sad it’s over. I feel the need to bowl all the time. I’m having bowling withdrawals. It’s funky. I’m also pole vaulting again which has been fun. I’m on bigger poles and that’s always exciting. It should be a good track season.

I love you lots!! I can’t wait to talk to you on Monday!! Have so much fun and I’ll pray for you!!

Love, Ambs