Hola

hey y'all,

I'm curious to know how everyone is doing! 

So this past week was crazy!!!! Just tons and tons of good stuff!! Being a missionary is awesome!!! It is seriously the best thing in the entire world. There is nothing better. at all. ever.

So last Monday I got a lot of birthday wishes from lots of you and from lots of people in my ward! The Bishops wife has the same birthday as me, so she made sure that I was taken care of that whole day! We went over to say happy birthday to her and we kinda ended up in a silly string war with my Bishops family? That was really fun! She got a cake for the family that was feeding us so that we could have cake. She is super awesome! Their whole family is super great!! 

I think we had pizza as dinner like 5 out of the 7 nights this week. And four of the nights it was Costco pizza! It just happened that way and it was awesome!!



Okay so i have some confessions to make.................................. I ate bacon.......................

For all of you who know me pretty well you would know that I really didn't like Bacon. Well i had it in the MTC and have been eating it occasionally since! I know that part of being a missionary is getting the gift of tongues (such a good place to make a joke), but i think part of that has to involve food. Because I don't think i have had a bad meal yet, and I have eaten just about every thing possible. Just about every genre of food imaginable. And most of it is things that i really didn't like before the mission. I still don't like mustard, pickles or onions though. But besides that i will really eat anything. Which for many of you is very strange to read. Because I was a pretty picky eater a month and a half ago!

Time really flies when you're on a mission. Maybe because every waking moment is fun!! (except for waking up. That sucks) i have genuinely enjoyed being out here. Me and Companion Elder Lyman had a super good Companionship inventory yesterday and we just more or less expressed how much we are grateful for each other and each others willingness to be obedient.  I can only attribute that to those who are among my framly (friends + family). Seriously though, the more I go on the more grateful I become for all of y'all. A very old friend of mine had a quote :"you are a piece of every single person you meet" and boy is that freaking true. I can look at myself and figure out where little bits of my personality or knowledge come from. And they come from many of you. I am understanding more and more why everyone says to watch out who your friends are, because they truly do have an influence on you. There are many things that are from my friends that are a big part of who I am. 

But enough of that! Theres something you are all dying to hear about (I know this from your emails to me) and that's about Exchanges!!!!!!!! Lol jk.         But really though exchanges are pretty cool!! Because I have the privilege of being companions with a district leader, I get to go on exchanges with the Zone Leaders!! Now for all of y'all who have no idea what i am saying, exchanges are where you spend 24 hours with another missionary and learn from them, either in your area or theres. I had the wonderful opportunity to go the Zone Leaders area. Which just so happens to be Sun Valley. Which is the second largest trailer park in the world!!! WHOOOO HOOOOOO. Apparently it was closed a few years ago because missionaries were getting shot at too much? But now its back open and it is awesome!!! sorry Mom. I was with Elder Johnson and that was pretty dang cool. I Absolutely loved it!! My Spanish is getting better! I can now actually follow along with conversations! Elder Johnson speaks it really well and so we had a lot of Hispanic street contacts he was able to talk to. I learned a lot from him and he helped me to grow a ton. So that was friday.

Okay now i will talk about the highlight of the week. Saturday, at about 8 pm, two people i very much care about entered into the covenant of baptism. Devon Turner and Carolann Webb (her daughter) were baptized!!!!!!!!!! Oh my gosh the support from the ward was insane!!!! soooooooooo many people came!! The mission presidnet and his wife came!!!! They DO NOT come to every baptism. Not even close. But they came to theirs! Ohmygosh the spirit was so strong. You could probably could have cut it with a knife. It felt like there was a pressure all around us. Everyone felt it too. They for sure felt it. You CANNOT tell me this gospel isn't true. The joy i saw in their eyes is not fakeabe. There is no way in heck that this is not Christ's True Church. I will defend this true till the day I die. The Holy Ghost witnessed to Every Single Person there that that baptism was ordained of God. As missionaries we hold the authority to act in God's name. We are representatives of Jesus Christ, our friend and our redeemer. That night, everyone knew that He Lives. We were blessed enough to be those vessels that helped this come to pass. It was our privilege to work with them and to guide them. We are out here on the Lords errand. I know that for a fact in My heart. No one in Heaven or on Earth or somewhere in between can take that knowledge from me. I am our here to Teach Repentance and Baptize converts. I am here to invite others to Come Unto Christ. My friends and family, that is what we do. We do nothing else but share the gospel. And that night, the culmination of 5 missionaries efforts came to fruition. Those two were confirmed members of The Church Of JESUS CHRIST Of Latter Day Saints yesterday. One by my hand, and one by the hand of my companion. That Blessing has been the greatest one I have given by the power of the Holy Ghost. Nothing I said was me. It was all things that Our Heavenly Father wanted me to say. 

People ask if missionary work is easy. Or they ask why missionary work isn't easy. To paraphrase Elder Holland: Missionary Work is not easy because for Him it was NEVER easy. Salvation is NOT a cheap experience! 

I do not want any of you to think being out here is easy. That being a missionary is easy. It is Not. Anyone who tells you different is lying through their teeth or was not someone who followed the rules. It is hard work. But it is made lighter through Him.

I'm going to quote my favorite hymn. It was the one i said in sacrament meeting and the one we sang at the baptism. 

"Brightly beams our Fathers mercy, from his lighthouse ever more. But to us he gives the keeping of the lights along the shore.

Dark the night of sin has settled. Loud the angry billows roar. Eager eyes are watching, longing for the lights along the shore.

Trim your feeble lamp my brother. Some poor sailor tempest tossed, trying now to make the harbor, in the darkness may be lost

Let the lower lights be burning. Send a gleam across the waves. Some poor fainting struggling seaman, you may rescue you may save. "

People are out there waiting for us. We have a light that shines. We need to arise and let it shine unto all people. We may be able to find those poor sailors. Those eager eyes. Those people who are only kept from the truth because they know not where to find it. Help people find it. Please

Though Jesus Christ all mankind may be saved, His Atonement is Infinite and Eternal. It doesn't apply to just sins. It applies to every, single, aspect of our lives. He is our kind friend. He died for each of us. He Loves each of us. He Lives. Amen

Love Elder Miner

The baptism of Devon and Carolyn