Week 3

Hey y'all!!!!

I hope this email finds each y'all and all y'all well! So i turned 19 today!!! tooting my own horn and all that!

But that's not important.

This past week has been super duper crazy!! So last Monday we set a baptismal date for Connor, the 9 year old! Super awesome!! the family is becoming more and more active and that is awesome!! I'm so excited for them! They are one awesome and fun family. We love seeing them at church!

So a lot of y'all have been asking how the ward is and how the people are and how the food is. So instead of me telling each y'all the same thing one by one, here I am telling all y'all at once. The ward is awesome. It is a mixed socioeconomic background so we see a lot of different situations. They vary widely. i won't go into details about that, because that's not important. We get fed every single night. And every time we see members they ask if we have any openings. They really love and trust us here. I can only thank my companion and his trainer and all the missionaries who came before us who gained and kept the trust of the members. They are amazing at fellow shipping! It is a small active population so they know when someone new is here! They are all amazing!! I love them all!

So this past week has been full of stuff that i don't have time to tell you all about!

So tuesday was district meeting and my companion Elder Lyman taught us and it went super super well!

Wednesday was zone conference with our zone(Sparks), Quincy zone and Reno North zone. It was freaking amazing!! We had tons of training from the Zone Leaders and senior couples. And also from the Assistants and then President Chesnut and his wife! IT was super good the whole time!! I got to see Sister Paul so that was pretty cool! Got to meet tons and tons of new elders and sisters! It was a super amazing time!! I really loved every minute! We left our house at 7:30 and got home at 6. So it was a long cuss meeting. I really really enjoyed it. i learned a lot and everyone there knows who i am now too. I bore my testimony and it was super awesome! I think president likes me. He is a super nice man and he gave me a call today to wish me happy birthday.

We had our long weekly planning session that took two days and about 5 hours to do so that was great!


on Friday the YSA sisters drove past us, and we asked them a question so they tried to pull over and ended up getting a flat tire after hitting the curb!! So Elder Lyman and I changed their tire lol. It was nice way to spend 45 minutes haha. It was super funny and really grand! Taught Connor and colton again this night too!

On Saturday we had mini missionaries with us!!!! that was awesome!!!! They didn't tell us that each missionary got one and that we had to split up so all the missionaries freaking out a little lol. but it was good! it was only for that day so that was kinda sad.We had a lot of good street contacting and lots of good times! some good lessons! His name was Matt and he is 16. Devon and Carolann turner had their baptismal interviews today too.

Yesterday was Sunday(as you all know) and fortunately i did not have to give a talk so that was a relief! We had 5 instigators there!! The whole Turner family came(the ones getting baptized next week). So now they are all good! We got their baptism all organized too! They are such a nice family. The older son is interested now and John(the dad) is showing more and more interest with each time we see him!! He is starting to see how important it is! Also i got to go out with the Spanish elders for an hour last night while Elder Lyman was at training. I know no Spanish lol. I nodded my head and said Si. They translated my Testimony into Spanish for them so that was cool.

I KNOW that my redeemer lives. He loves me.He is the living son of God, even Jesus Christ the Lord. He Loves all of y'all. He wants us to come to him. He wants us to be happy. Through him we can have eternal life. I Feel God's love each and every day. I know he is my father in heaven. I know that i am here for a reason. I have only been a missionary for a few more days than a month, but know my -purpose. I know why i am here. I am here for the same reason why the Sons of Mosiah left to the land of Nephi. (Mosiah 28:3).

I know He lives. And it is in His name i do all things. Even Jesus Christ the Savior of the world. Amen

Love

Elder Miner 

Leaving for Nevada

Chandler's desk

Elder Lyman and Elder Miner at the Reno Temple

Sunset in Reno

Sparks Zone Conference

Snow in Sparks

Elder Lyman and Chandler changing a tire.

Chandler and his mini-missionary Matt

Nice note from Elder Lyman

Elder Miner and Elder Lyman celebrating Chandler's birthday.

Week 2

Hey y'all!!! love ya!!!!

Okay so this week has been completely insane!!! So many things happened!!! I hope i have time to say them all.

So Tuesday was zone training and that was great!! Learned a ton from our Zone Leaders!! Elder Lyman and I rode our bikes a lot this week. We also have a car btw. We just want to stay fit lol. Wednesday was TEMPLE DAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Gosh dang it's a small temple. I think you could fit the entire temple into Gilbert's Celestial room. No joke. But it was soooooo great to go!!!! I loved the peace of going and being able to go with the whole zone was great. Our zone is the largest in the entire mission!! Something like 26 missionaries or so. The temple is so great guys. It clears your head and lets you refocus. After the temple we only had like four hours of proselyting left, but we had 6 lessons!! a good day here is 4!! and that's a whole day!! everything just went so well after the temple!

Thursday was great because we spent 4 hours doing weekly planning. Yippee...... We are teaching so many people our here it's ridiculous!!! I love the ward. They take such good care of us!! So much love and so much Candy! I love each and everyone of them.

Friday was super cool cus we got to meet Alydia from the District!!!!!!!!! She is one of the investigators that got baptized!! we met her and her husband(who is her boyfriend in the district) and her son!! Her husband baptized someone in our ward so we went over to their house and met all them!! It was super cool meeting one of our example investigators.

Saturday was great cus we spent several hours helping a less active move!! We met with a ton of people and got a new investigator! There's a less active family who lives in our ward who has a 9 year old that wants to get baptized! We are starting the lessons tonight!! The two investigators who have their baptismal date set are named Devon and Carolanne. It's a mother and daughter. Devon had to start living the word of wisdom too. She has to give up her smoking. I hope she can do it!! We know she can do it!! Their bap date is the 27!!! We are getting super excited!!!

So yesterday at church i had such an amazing time!! And that isn't sarcasm. So our ward starts at 11. At 11:01 the 1st counselor in the bishopric comes up to my companion and I and says that they may call upon us to speak because the high councilor hasn't arrived yet. So me and my companion said yes of course and then went oh crap and tried to think of something. They called me to speak first and the only thing i had prepared was to read out loud was the lyrics to the Hymn Brightly Beams Our Fathers Mercy.  Now Friends and Family, what i say next isn't to pull me up or anything, but it's to show how powerful the Holy Ghost is. I don't remember really anything i said. I think i spoke about missionary work. About going out and finding those who need our help. That God has entrusted us with the "Lower Lights" (read the hymn). I said several personal experiences about the holy ghost and about things that strengthened my testimony. Brothers and Sisters it sounded to me like i was saying words. I didn't know what i was saying until i had already said it. I bore testimony constantly and i took up about 25 minutes!!! I ended up using my companions time up too so he didn't speak. I went up there with a Hymn and preached the word of God from the pulpit. Now sitting down i thought i did awful. I thought it was super scattered and i honestly couldn't remember what i said. I just tried to put it past me and move on hoping to redeem myself through meeting with the members afterwords in lessons and what not. So you can imagine my shock when Literally half the ward talked to me about my talk and throughout the rest of church. The ward mission leader( who missed church cus of work) later that day that he heard that i was on the short list for the next general conference. Members came up to  me and said that was the best talk they had heard in years. They said it sounded like i had prepared it a long time ago. One came up in said that it was EXACTLY what she needed to hear and she left crying because of it. Friends and family i have no idea what i said in those 25 minutes. Every word out of my mouth was from the Spirit. I promise and testify that what it says in D&C 100 Versus 5-8 is true. The spirit will guide you in everything. There is no way i could've given a talk like that without the spirits help. The ONLY thing i went up there with was a hymn book. And so i guess the message i want you to get from this email is to put your trust in God. He knows what people need to hear. We don't. But when we are prepared to do all that we can, the spirit will carry us the rest of the way and take us to where we need to go. We will speak the words that people need to hear. I'm not sharing that story to brag about how good i am at giving talks, I'm sharing it because we truly are nothing without the spirit. Elder Bednar said "without the power of the Holy Ghost, we are utterly incapable of doing what have been called to do". I am a solemn witness of that. I have seen it multiple times throughout this past month.

I want to leave y'all with my testimony that the Saviors lives. He loves us. That God knows each of us and our needs. That he is willing to give us good times and bad times to teach us. I know that the Holy Ghost can truly bring things to our remembrance. And that when we let him into our lives, he will guide us to do good.

I love Each of Y'all and All of Y'all

Elder Miner

P.s. i'm sorry if i respond to your emails with short ones!! there's like 30 emails waiting for me every time and it takes a lot of time to read and respond to all. But i love hearing from y'all so don't stop!

Oh and here's a little pps...

So like half of the houses i've been to have people who speak German or who have lived in Europe. So it has been the coolest thing ever to try out speaking German to these people and to talk about Europe with them. It is a super nice connection. Who knew that would happen here. It has been a blessing to know rudimentary German and to be able to connect with them differently than anyone else.

Lydia from the District, her husband, Elder Lyman and Chandler

All the new missionaries that arrived the same week as Chandler

So I'm Here

He is assigned to a ward in Sparks, Nevada.  

Hey Y'all

Okay so sorry i couldn't email all y'all last week. It's kinda what happens when you don't get a P-day. The last days in the MTC were Amazing. I loved every minute of it and I really miss my old district! They were all studs! We, as elders, sang Come Thou Font of Every Blessing in sacrament meeting last Sunday and it went super well! There was only four of us singing and it made everyone in the room cry. So that was good! We finished off the MTC well and had a lot of teary goodbyes/testimonys. I'm going to miss being in such a warm and loving atmosphere. The whole time you are there you can just feel enveloped by the Spirit.

But sadly we had to leave the MTC. We left Tuesday morning. Our flight was at 11. We said our last goodbyes to everyone and wished the Salt Lake City East missionaries good luck. We had 8 missionaries in our group. 3 Sisters and 5 Elders. We got picked up at the airport by the (then) 3 AP's and one missionary leaving the next day. And also President Chesnut and his wife. We went to the mission home and got to meet a lot of different people. Mostly the different office workers. They are all senior missionaries. After a few hours of listening to the rules and stuff we got to meet our trainers!!

My trainer, or Father as they say out here, is Elder Lyman!!! He is a super stud. He is a DL and really loves the people out here! He has only been out for 4 months!!! He is doing something very very right since he is training so soon! This is his first area and I'm only his second companion! Things couldn't get much better tbh. Anyway, y'all probably want to hear about my area right? And i guess the crazy stories i've gotten lol.

So my first lesson Tuesday night was to a paranoid schizophrenic named Ron. He has ghost buds and demon buds and talks to the devil(because the devil ate Jesus). He also has the rock that killed Hitler and Goliath. He built the Death star. He is an awesome dude and i wish i could keep teaching  him, but he sadly moved the ZL's area out in sun valley

I've had such good experiences out here so far. Like teaching a drunk hi hippie that builds the temple for burning man. His name was Fred. He is an experience i would rather forget lol.  Oh and you probably don't want to look up what burning man is. Or at least don't look at the pictures lol.

Speaking of pictures, i forgot to bring my camera with me...........So pictures next week!!!!!

But i have had some pretty amazing lessons. Our area only covers one ward. D'andrea ward. It is an amazing ward and it's the best area in the best mission in the world!! Everyone is super nice and there are a lot of ward members. Around 700!!! but most are less active. That's where we come in! We teach repentance and baptize converts. We invite others to come unto Christ. Whether an investigator or a less active or a full active member. Everyone needs to come unto Christ and there is always a way we can improve out lives!

I have seen miracles out here. The Lord really does look out for us and for the people we teach. We had a lesson with a super good investigator cancel. We thought it was the worst thing that could happen. So we went to our backup and ended up committing them to baptism on the 27!!! It was a blessing in the disguise of a curse. A sheep in wolfs clothing i guess.

I love the Lord. I know he has died for each and everyone of us and that he truly knows what we are going through. I know that we can feel his love. The Book of Mormon is the true book. The Savior lives. The prophets are true. I know they are. Oh sweet the joy this sentence gives, I Know that My Redeemer Lives. Streams of mercy from God on high never cease. I thank God every day for all y'all and each y'all. He lives. I know he does. He is the center of my life, and the center of His church and His gospel.


If any of you are having doubts i strongly encourage you to pray to know the truth. In fact everyone who reads this, i give unto thee a challenge (lol): Will you pray to know if Jesus Christ is our savior? Will you pray to know if The Book of Mormon is true? Will you pray to know if Joseph Smith is a prophet of God? Will you pray to know if God does really love you? I hope the answer to those questions is yes I will. I know the answer you will receive. Because I receive that answer every day I live. I add this, my humble testimony to those throughout time. That He Lives. Even Christ the Savior. Amen

I love all y'all and each y'all 

Elder Miner

We did end up getting a couple of pictures.  We got some from a member who fed him (a little tender mercy for mom and dad).  That is how we found out where he is serving.  We also got one from his MTC teacher.

Dinner appointment

Elder Miner and his companion Elder Lyman

MTC District  

First week at MTC

Hey Y'all

So this week has been super good! I said y'all because we aren't allowed to say guys or dude or bro, so we have been challenged by our district president to say y'all instead lol. Where to start. So my companion is Elder S and he is super cool. I love him lots and he's pretty awesome! The other elders in my district are Elder M and Elder H. Elder M is just like Cam Richins. The same personality too which is awesome! Elder H is really really smart and a little eccentric  at times but its good. I am the district leader which is pretty cool! There are three sets of sisters in our district also which is cool! It's a little weird because every sister we meet is older than us. As I'm writing this all the new Elders and Sisters are arriving! 

Our zone leaders who were in charge when we got here left this morning so that is pretty sad, but happy. We've had two devotionals so far. One on Sunday and one last night. Both were super duper good! Last night was Donald L Hallstrom of the 70. And sunday was Brother Allen who is in charge of Missionaries. Pretty much my whole district has been singing in the choir so that's been pretty sweet! Our TRC investigators are super cool! They are Zach and John. Both are actual investigators, we are pretty sure. So far our lessons with them have been super spiritual and it's been awesome! i've learned a lot just in the past week and i feel like its going just waaaayyy to fast! Lots of class lessons here. Lots of great food too lol. 

Anyway, I can't go into the detail I want to because i have limited time and it would just take too long. I want all of y'all to know that I know that my redeemer lives. I know he loves me and that God knows each of us by name. I know that through the atonement we can find peace and be cleansed. I know that the Lord's gospel is here on the earth once more, and that i have been called by a Prophet to preach and teach about it. 

I love all y'all and each y'all 

Elder Miner

Our only photo from the MTC--Chandler and Bailey Fillmore.  Friends since NY.

Arrived in Nevada

Well, he made it to Nevada and that is all we know.  We got this picture on Tuesday night but have no idea where he is serving or who his companion is.  We can't wait until Monday to get his first letter.  A friend sent a picture of the temperature today and it was -11 in some parts of Nevada.  I hope he stays warm!!!!

Elder Miner with President and Sister Chesnut