DONE TRAINING!!!!

So with the completion of this week, I have finished my training! I am now a full fledged missionary. Granted my training pretty much stopped at the beginning of this last transfer soooooo....

This past week two very important things happened.

1 We moved.  💥

2 I learned how to solve a Rubik's cube 

Just kidding those were just cool things that happened. But we saw a lot of more awesome miracles happen this week too. We found 3 new investigators. They are just coming out of the woodworks! They are Ronald, Tracy, and Tom. Ronald was a media referral who requested a bible and a book of mormon. he is interested in learning more about the LDS church! Tracy is someone who the sisters used to meet with and now is interested in learning more again! Tom is this guy we met last night who has studied religions throughout his life and he wants to try the LDS Church again. They are all super interested! 

On tuesday we had interviews with President Chesnut so that was really cool! He is a super good guy and he is very inspired. He knows what things to say when!

So we had two exchanges this week! The first one was on Wednesday and that is when we got the call that we were moving the next day. So my temporary companion packed for 3 hours and packed up pretty much everything while I cleaned up and packed my own stuff. Then the next day at 8 we were moved out of our house into a new apartment. We had 2 other sets of missionaries help us move out. It went pretty well! We were really happy that we have our own place now! And a full sized fridge too. That's always pretty nice! 

We had a lot of success this week! Tons of lessons every day! On exchanges on saturday we got to do a lot of biking and my comp took that beautiful selfie down below. We got to eat with the Tongan ward missionaries which is Elder Williams and Elder Wise and that was cool cus Elder Williams was Elder Gambles old comp. It was super good to see him again! We got to eat in downtown Reno!!!!!!! That was pretty sweet! 8th and Virginia street! 

I think Winco is such a great thing! It is a cross between Costco and Walmart and cheaper than both! We went there for shopping today! 

Elder Latham and I have really been doing well! We are working lots and lots better together and it all is just going well! We have been doing a lot of biking! We aren't sure whats going to happen in a week for transfers. Elder Latham thinks I am getting Transferred, but we will see. I really love being a missionary. It is where I am supposed to be. I am supposed to be serving in the NRM(Nevada Reno mission). Out here things make more sense, and time really does fly! It is super great! I love every second of it! 

Keep doing good back home you guys. Or abroad wherever you may be. Keep learning the gospel. Keep studying. I promise it will all work out. I promise that everything always works out. Through Christ, all things are possible.

"We get our credit for trying, even when we don't succeed"

I love all y'all and each y'all

Elder Miner

Selfies while biking

This week!

Howdy Y'all,

SOOOOOOO This past week was great! Started off with some jack in the box last Monday and a trip to Ross where I got a bunch of new ties! That's one of the pictures below. The second picture I will explain in time haha. We spent some time setting up one of our investigators Connor Olsen's baptism. It is on the 30 of April and it should hopefully happen! He is 9 and will be getting baptized with his 8 year old brother Colton. So that will be pretty cool! 

We had a very good week this week! We saw many many many miracles, not that we don't see them every week. But they were just amazingly evident this week. 

So on Tuesday we had our district meeting which was pretty cool! We didn't get any lessons on Tuesday, but we did fix my bike so that was good! 

Okay so I am going to talk about my bike now. I think I probably have the worst luck with bikes in the existence of missionaries. I have had so many different issues with it and so many problems because of it. From popped tubes to bent wheels and locked brakes. We spent TWO HOURS fixing my breaks on Tuesday. Man do we know how the brakes work. We are experts now! But then two days later I wiped out on my bike and messed up the gear train, locked my breaks and tilted my axle. This sounds awful doesn't it? Well an amazing miracle came out of it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! So this lady drove by right as a wiped out. Then she felt prompted to turn around so she did and offered us help, and for once we actually accepted the help. Turns out she is a 21 year old less active who has been wanting to get back into the church but hasn't figured out how to. Even more is that she lives in our area and we had no idea. God has a plan for each of us, and for some reason that meant that I needed to fall at that exact moment in order for us to meet her. Her name is Lakin Helwig. She wants to start meeting with us and she kinda refereed herself to us? That was a super cool miracle just because the Lord Literally put someone in our path. But now my bike is kinda a little messed up. I still ride fine, but I need to adjust my breaks again because right now I only have front breaks, which is really really really bad when you live on a giant hill like we do lol. But now Elder Latham and I are experts in every   single    aspect   of our bikes. 

I had two exchanges this week. One with Elder Gamble and the other with Elder Woolsey. I've had two now where I got to drive!!!!!! Man it's great driving after so many months of not being the one behind the wheel. Withe Elder Gamble we were in my area and we saw a lot of success! That was on Wednesday! We had a super duper amazing day. Lots of super good lessons! With Elder Woolsey we were in sun valley. Oh man. I am convinced that Jesus will go there first, then to Jerusalem when he comes with fire in his glory. Sun Valley is a very............Interesting.........place. With Elder Gamble I was super comfortable and we worked very well together. With Elder Woolsey I learned a lot about being a good missionary! He is a fantastic Elder. He said a lot of things that I needed to hear in our exchange review. He is an inspired Elder. 

Oh and the goat was someone we met in Sun Valley. He tried to ram us a few time, so we took some pictures lol. 

We found 5 new investigators this week! Two of them we set with baptismal dates! Wyat and Destinie Williams. Then also Paul and Nicole. And Rhonda! So it was a pretty good week! We found 3 of them on Saturday and  Elder Latham and Johnson found 2 on exchanges on Friday. Man this week was just so good! 

The work in this area is really progressing! I love being here in D'andrea ward! Lots of stuff is happening. I don't remember if I said it in the last email, but they split the two neighboring stakes into a third one this past week. And they will be splitting the Sparks stake in half in June. So the wards will change. Don't tell anyone from Nevada because it's all hush hush right now. We only know because we're missionaries. President Chesnut warned us about it, because our areas follow ward boundaries, so if wards change, so do our areas! 

So I got all the bible videos on DVD this past week so we've been watching a ton of them! THey are all super good and y'all should go and watch them! They area super inspirational and the best way to better understand the 4 Gospels for sure. They are super duper good! They are really inspiring and were made by inspired men! 

This is my 11 week in the field, and the 3 month mark of me being set apart as a missionary. Wednesday will be 3 months since I enter the MTC. I am almost done being trained. Time here really flies by fast. IT doesn't feel like 3 months! Not even close! I love being a missionary and I know without a doubt in my mind that this is where I am supposed to be. Here in the best mission in the world, and in the best area in the world. Being a missionary is the best thing ever and I don't want it to ever end. 

I know that out here I am doing the Lords work. I am following his example and the example of the 12 original apostles and the example of millions of other missionaries from around the world including my parents and my family and friends. The Lord does not ask us to do things, except that He provides a way. Out here sometimes there are better days than others, but It is always a good day because the Lord is with us. As we hearken unto the words of the prophets we can see the Lord in our lives more and more. In His name Jesus Christ Amen. 

I love all y'all and each y'all 

Elder Miner 

Goat that tried to ram us.

Ties I bought at Ross.

This Week---April 11, 2016

So this week was full of ups and downs. Goods and bads. So it was a good week!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Elder Latham and I had our first 0 lesson day on Monday. That was frustrating. But it's okay. We still had a successful day! We did everything we could, we did our best, so we were successful missionaries.

On Tuesday we Taught a training at zone training about the Commitment cycle. We Invite, they commit, we follow up, It was a super good training and we had a ton of fun doing it! Our mission has a practical applicat6ion guide. It is pretty much an explanation for everything in preach my gospel as it applies to this mission. We call it the pag. It is truly inspired, so we taught out of that! It was a very effective training!

This past week was slower than weeks past, but it was still a good week! We set two people with baptismal dates!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! WOOT WOOT. It was a great way to end the week! We have a lot of good people we are working with and boy are they ready for the gospel! It's a privilege to be here in this area with this companion and in this mission. The people here are just so very very great!

So I just got about 50 talks from general authorities so that is super awesome!!! 

I'm still abuzz about general conference! And I have a commitment for y'all. Read/study one conference talk a week until general conference. It'll make a difference in how you see conference!!!!! I promise that as a representative of Jesus Christ.

I had a couple surreal experiences this week. One was with a recent convert named Molly. She is such a stud and there actually isn't anything we can do to help her him. But she has a tough life. Her whole family is super duper active catholic and she is only 18 and her family hates that she joined the church and they are disappointed in her. She was kinda venting to us about her frustrations with her family this past week and as we were sitting outside in some chairs I stared out into valley and saw the whole city at night and thought to myself, how am I here? How is she telling us all this personal stuff? How does she trust us enough to tell us this? Then I thought about how one of us could be gone in 3 weeks. And then she would tell the new guy the same stuff. Then an ensign article popped in my head about missionaries. In my head the line "wearing the name tag gives you the right to have personal spiritual experiences with complete strangers" went through my head over and over. I am a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. I have been called to that and ordained to that. That revelation to me that I can have those experiences really blew my mind.

Anyway, my comp wants to leave, so I guess I can't share my other experience. But I love all y'all and each y'all!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Sorry this is so short! Next week will be longer I promise! I hope y'all have a great week!

Love Elder Miner

Conference!!!

Man, this week was super good!!!!!!!!!

Lots of good stuff and I can't even remember any of it because of how good conference was!!!!! Like amazing!!!!!!!!!!

Okay before I dive into how conference was, I'll tell you about my week.

Elder Latham is a super good Elder! Really different than Elder Lyman, but good!! We've had a lot of good things happen to us. We work together pretty well too! Being out here on a mission is the best! So many amazing things happen!!

So we found a new investigator this week. He was a referral from the stake president. He wanted to quit smoking, so we taught him the churches 15 step quit smoking program! Didn't even know one existed! But he is doing well! He hasn't smoked since last Thursday morning! We taught him the restoration too!!! Super good lesson! He agreed with pretty much everything we said about everything! Except that church is on Sunday. He thinks it's supposed to be on Saturday. I guess his brother is 7th day Adventist? We found a couple families this week that were interested in having us come back and teach them! So those should be good!

So knocking on doors does not work. Really at all. It isn't effective. The only form that we've seen work is blessing contacts. We offer to bless there house in the form of a prayer by the power of the Priesthood. That one is actually pretty effective. About 1/3 of people that answer want it. And about a third of them say to come back. We don't just pick a street to go down though, we just will stop at houses we are impressed to stop at! And that is how we've found 2 potential families! Elder Latham has taught me this.

So we have spent 5 hours this week pulling weeks for this lady we found. We asked if they needed any service and they told us to pick their weeds. Man. They have so many weeds!!!!!! I'll send a picture next week of the yard. Every square inch is covered in weeds that have roots that go down for half a foot! This week we are gonna involve the young men!

So conference was pretty freaking awesome!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I loved every single second of it!! It was tooooooo short. I wish it was longer. But dang it was a good 10 hours! So my two favorite talks were President Uchtdorfs from the Sunday morning session and Elder Hollands. I wrote down so many quotes this conference. I took 12 pages of notes!!!! From President Uchtdorfs talk I wrote down Man has the ability to create something new from ashes. If man can do that, how much can our Heavenly Father do? There's wayyy to much that I loved from Conference to talk about it all! I loved the Priesthood session!! It amazing!!! President Owen's talk was super good!! So were the First presidency talks!!! Elder Gongs talk on sunday was good! Elder Kearons was super good!!! Elder Hallstrom from saturday. Elder Duncan. Elder Bendar. President Monson's! Elder Oaks! And Elder Hollands. I was super scared when Elder Holland started! "Do you have any idea........How much we love you. That man. He is amazing. The best way to finish off conference for sure!!

Everything those men and women said these past two days is true Without a doubt in my heart I KNOW their words are true. They are our leaders for a reason. They speak to us. They speak by the power of the Hold Ghost. They are our captains. They go on before us. They know what we need to hear. I know their words are true.

My two favorite lines from conference are from Elder Holland

"you can have what you want, or you can have something better"

And my favorite "the First Great Truth of Eternity is that God Loves us with all His Heart, Might, Might and Strength."

Friends and Family, we get credit for trying. We get credit for trying to be the very best we can be. Our Father in Heaven loves us, and He will help us. He won't drag us to Heaven, but He will give us all the chances we can get to get there. I Know that is true, In the name of our savior, Jesus Christ, Amen

I love all y'all and each y'all

Elder Miner