Monday, March 27, 2017

SUP

Howdy y'all! I love Nevada! It's the best! Lots of good stuff going on!!!  
There are some days when I almost grasp what the Savior did for me. And then there are other days where I have no idea. Those days where it is just so close are some of the best days. Those are the days where I wish I could stand on the rooftops and shout out loud what we can do. What and who we can become. When I want to declare what the Lord did for me. And for everyone. Those days I feel closer to my savior. I feel him around me. Everyone rejoiced at the coming of the Master. They understood exactly how important it was. I want to be at that point one day. I hope I can be. I am striving to be. I can't say that I will be on the same level as Elijah. But I am striving to have that level of relationship with my Father and with my Savior. 

This week I got to go on exchanges with Elder Ruiz in his area! It was a ton of fun! Elder Ruiz is a fun elder. We had a good time. We saw miracles happen! We were placed in the path of someone who needed us! We exited a less active mans house and This lady named Vicki Love walked up. She asked if we were LDS or JW's. We said LDS. She thanked God and we proceeded to hear all about her life! She is going though a ton of tough stuff. She just doesn't understand why it all happens. We testified of the truthfulness of God's plan for each of us. We testified of the Savior and what he can do for each of us. Then I gave her a Book of Mormon with a card in it with our number. I left the card in 2 Nephi chapter 2 and invited her to read it. She was super excited to be able to get a copy of the Book of Mormon. She was definitely a daughter of God in need. I am glad that we were able to be there for her. The Lord uses us to be where we need to be. We are being led by him all the time! 


I love this work!
I love all y'all and each y'all!
Elder Miner 

Fallon District


Fallon Zone

Sunset in Fallon

Monday, March 20, 2017

14 Months!!!

This week has been good! I really enjoy being out here in Fallon! It is a great place and the people are just so great! We have been working a lot in the Fallon 4th ward. The work traditionally has been done more in the Fallon 3rd ward, so we are going to switch it up. The Bishop in the 4th ward is a lot more ready to do the work! He is a really good guy! We are establishing weekly contact with him outside of Sunday. And establishing daily contact with our ward mission leader too. Just to update them on everything we are doing. So they should already know everything before we get to coordination meeting! We are super excited for everything that is going on and the work that is moving forward! 

Last night we had a lesson with our investigator Josh Schei. He is a super cool kid. He is 17 and has to wait till he is 18 for him to be baptized. He has been coming to church every week for about 6 months now! And we have been switching it up every week on who's house we have a lesson in. Yesterday we were in our Bishop's home. Bishop Stokes of the 4th ward. On a cool side note, his semi-active brother was in the ward I served in in Spring Creek! That was a neat connection. But it was pretty cool to have the lesson in his home! His whole family was their with Josh. We taught the Plan of Salvation using the Love diagram. We focused a lot on the love of God. That was a huge part of it! And also on the Atonement too. It went super good! The family had super good insights! They were able to explain Grace to Josh. Afterwords Bishop was talking to Josh and asked him when he was going to be baptized. So Josh said on his birthday. Bishop looked it up, and his birthday is on a Saturday! So that works out pretty well! So Josh is very very committed to be baptized the day he turns 18! This kid is a stud! Excuse the slang. And then a year after baptism, he is planning on serving a mission! 

I got to go on exchanges with Elder Tolbert this week! He is one of our zone leaders He is a very good Elder! I love the guy a lot! But as I was sitting there in personal study, I read one of Elder Day's sticky notes at his desk. It says "When I was a Highschooler, I spake as a Highschooler, I understood as a Highschooler, I thought as a Highschooler, but when I became an Elder, I put away Highschool things" 1 Cor 13:11

I am striving to be that way. I am already so different than what I was But I still have a long long way to go. But something out here that I notice, is that I am happy. I am truly truly happy. I wear bright colors. I never stop smiling, or so the other missionaries say. I love my life and I love my savior. I am not a Highschooler anymore. I am an Elder. I am a missionary. I am a servant of The Master. I have changed. And I absolutely love it!


I love all y'all and each y'all! 

Elder Miner

Monday, March 13, 2017

Fallabama...

This week has been good!!! We have been seeing a lot of cool miracles!! Like seriously it has been super great here in Fallabama!!!!!! 

We gave the Book of Mormon initiative to our Elders Quorum president and his wife. We gave them the whole little spiel thing and then we asked them about if they had anyone in mind already. And the wife, Sister Merritt said that as soon as the book touched her hand, it came to her exactly who she should read for. It was super cool that she got that instant revelation! Super cool thing!! She shared a very personal story and it just week super well and it was amazing!!! 

Later this week we were trying a former who had just kinda lost touch with the missionaries about 9 months ago. We managed to catch her at home and we asked her about us coming over again. She said she wasn't quite ready yet. But then we asked her if there was anything we could do to help. We saw the spirit working on her. It was super cool! Then she asked if we were serious. We said dead serious. Then she got a lot happier and said that she had a pool she needed moved. So we said tell us when and we can do it. So she said to come by this tuesday. It was amazing to actually see the spirit soften your heart. I have never had ANYONE ever say yes to us asking if we could help with anything!

The next day we were trying to contact some other formers. We put it into our GPS and and it took us to a house. I felt impressed that we should ask for who we were looking for. I felt like we should just try to talk. So we went to do just that. Right after we said our prayer and got out of the car, a man came out of the house with his dog and we were able to have just a casual genuine conversation that lasted about 30 minutes. In this conversation we found out that he was not who we were looking for. He is a less-active member who hasn't been in the church for a little while. he said that if he were to go back to church, it would only be the LDS church. It was super cool to see this!! He was really happy to see us and it was a very good contact and he said to come back any time. 

I love all y'all and each y'all!
Elder Miner  

Monday, March 6, 2017

Sandbagging

Alright so I definitely procrastinated writing this email.... super sorry!!
But the biggest thing this week is that we have spent almost every day sandbagging! Everyone is very scared for flooding!! So we go and help sand bag for about 2 hours or so every day! Its a lot of effort and fun! We are going to get fit and buff! But it has been really good because the people are recognizing us as missionaries. And a lot of non-members are liking us more because of that! So that has been good! It is really odd to be in a bigger town. There's a lot of people! its super strange!!! but it's good! Oh and update, those kids we were teaching in Ely all got baptized on Saturday!!!!! I'm pumped about that! But sad because I couldn't be there to be with them on that day But God needs me here in Fallon. I love being a missionary!
I love all y'all and each y'all!
Elder Miner