June 16, 2014 - Transfer Week

We had transfers on Thursday. Sadly both Elder Mathews and Elder Smith got transferred. It was a great transfer, but all transfers have to end at some point. In our town home there are pictures of each group of missionaries from each transfer. For our transfer picture we took some GQ photos at a parking garage near our house (haha). I think we look pretty good!

"Lookin' pretty good!"

  

The last week of the transfer the AP's got switched into my district. That week I had been really pondering and praying about what I could do to "make something happen". In the leadership meeting a few weeks ago President talked about making things happen and causing change. I felt inspired to focus district meetings on something that Elder Ballard said at the mission conference. He said "if you want to baptize more people, talk to more people. Missionaries should talk to at least 20 people every day outside of planned activities." I started an initiative called #talkto20 and as a district we started counting how many people we talked with each day and I would text the totals out to the district. We saw lots of success from it. The AP's really liked my idea and so this week at transfers they introduced it to the whole mission. I gained a stronger testimony of the need to seek for personal revelation and inspiration. I don't think I have done enough of that in my life or on my mission. I have made it a goal to seek divine guidance more in my life.

My new companion is Elder Gledhill. He was born in Ukraine and lived in an orphanage until he was 16. He was adopted into a LDS family in Sandy, Utah and went to Alta High School. We both came out at the same time, but he was in a different MTC district, so I didn't really know him before. Elder Smith was replaced in the town home with Elder Raban who also went to Lone Peak. He was a year older than me in school. Now I have served around all the Elders in the mission that went to LP (Elders Smith, Raban, Van Dyke, and Hawkes).

New roommate? New mission mascot?

Right after transfer meeting I got to eat dinner with Sam Campozano, his sister, and her fiancé! Sam had asked me before if I thought I could meet up with them, but I didn't think we could. His dad called the mission and we got permission! We ate at Café Rio just up the street just like old times. It was really fun, but way too short. I wish we’d had more time! One of the first things Sam mentioned to me was that he thinks I’ve grown :). It will be awhile before I see him again because he said he is going to leave for his mission around December sometime. It was awesome to see a familiar face!

We got the plumbing in our kitchen fixed this week and we got temporary AC that sits in the window. This week was the first time that our town house was under 80 degrees! Before the plumbing got fixed we had to put a big bucket in the sink to wash stuff in and then throw the water out the window when it got full (haha). One day Elder Raban threw out the water and hit a little baby bird sitting in our backyard! We didn't know they were there. He killed the one :'( but we still have another little friend who made it.

We got to teach Joel (the guy we found smoking in the park), Peter and Monica (the Baptist family), Canon (member’s 10 year old son), and some other people. One awesome guy that we've been teaching is the cousin of a less active member in our ward. His name his Ben and he just sits outside in his car and smokes Hookah all day (haha). He really wants to know why his cousins joined our church. He is really funny and sincere in wanting to find something more in his life.

I think the weekly average for our mission is 7.2 baptisms, so about 30 each month. We aren't on track to reach the goal right now, but we still have time to catch up. It’s a pretty huge goal to reach.  I’ll tell you more about investigators next week!

Love you!

Elder Miles

Washington DC South Mission: Braven Your Stride  Here's a link to a video made by the mission.  Braden is in the upper left at about 1:05 into the video.

June 9, 2014 - What else could go wrong...?

Elder Miles at the NRA Museum

Last week for preparation day we went to the NRA (National Rifle Association) Museum. It is only about a 15 minute drive from where we live. They had guns from as far back as the Mayflower. It was really interesting, but there were almost too many guns to look at.

We have been washing our clothes at the public Laundromat recently... I never thought or wished I would ever to do that, but we are pretty desperate with no washing machine. As if not having an AC or a washing machine wasn't enough, the drains in our kitchen are all backed

Doing laundry

up now.

The other day we got a text from the other Elders saying "DONT COME BACK!” The sink filled with water and a pipe in the pantry started shooting out nasty water and rotten food. They cleaned it up, but now our house smells bad and we can’t use the sink or the dishwasher. Yay! It’s been pretty crazy, but we have had some good laughs. Turns out the owner had 3 family members die, which is why they haven't been able to get a hold of him. Hopefully now something will get fixed or else I hope we can move. We are all still sleeping down on the main floor under all the fans and it will only get hotter... The town home is just falling apart.

We had a great week and found some cool new people to teach. One of them was an older guy we found smoking in a park. I saw him straight down the path, but we needed to turn left to get home. I felt like we should go talk to him anyways. Turns out he was awesome! We ended up talking for about an hour right there in the park. He was really intrigued about our beliefs about life after death. We are going to help him with some service this week and he wants to come to church on Sunday. We talked to another great family with six kids. We are going to go to their Baptist church next week and they will come to ours after. Things have started picking up and we just got a new ward mission leader. He is really cool and very excited to get to work.

We had to move the lesson with Canon to this week. His dad was out of town. (From last week – they were going to draw chalk pictures on the driveway with him about the Plan of Salvation.)

This week I hit 100 hours and 1,000 miles on my bike! That's not counting my first transfer because I didn't have the odometer then. Biking is fun for the most part, but with the summer hitting, I really wish we had a car! The transfer ends this Thursday. Each one goes by faster and faster.   I hope Elder Mathews stays. Elder Mathews and Elder Smith have both been here for three transfers, so they both might be leaving.  We have worked really hard together and had lots of fun. It will definitely be a memorable transfer with everything that has happened.

The ward is great and it’s fun to see President Riggs at church every week. I’ve played basketball with him a couple of times. He is really good for being 47. 

I miss you guys, but I know I’m doing the Lords work. Love you!

Love,

Elder Miles

June 2, 2014 - I don't know what to title this

It was a pretty good week. We found some new investigators and had an awesome leadership meeting with President Riggs. I told President that the Larson's are my next door neighbors and showed him the picture you sent from his mission. He loved that and said they are great people. The best part was when I found a five dollar bill on the ground! (haha) The weather was nice, so even though we STILL don't have an air conditioner it wasn't bad. I went on an exchange with the office elders (they are in my district) and we helped a senior couple move in. Hard to believe it’s already June. March, April, and May were definitely the fastest months so far on my mission. It has been awesome serving with Elder Mathews and Elder Smith.

We taught Canon this week (the member family's son that I mentioned in another email). We have had fun trying to think of interesting ways to teach him the lessons. This week we are going to teach him the plan of salvation by drawing it really big on their driveway with chalk. It has been good for me to teach simply. Sometimes we over complicate the gospel when in reality, it is meant to be understood by children. A lot of our other investigators have been hard to contact, so we've been doing a lot of finding. We are trying to do more finding through the members. That has gone pretty well so far and hopefully we can get some referrals. I have made a bigger effort to get to know the members and that definitely helps the work.

We work out in the mornings at an apartment complex across the street from where we live. The other day when we jogged over there, we found a sign in the window that said the code for the gym had changed. Somehow we had the code before and I don't know where we got it. We were really disappointed and weren't sure what we were going to do to work out in the mornings. We have a few weights in our basement, but those just wouldn't do. That night we decided we would still get up at 6 (we don't have to get up until 6:30) and hopefully someone would be at the gym to let us in. As we were leaving our town home Elder Mathews found a dollar bill on the sidewalk, so I took that as a sign. To our dismay, there was nobody there and we had no way to get in. We started walking back pretty annoyed and disappointed. Then (at 6am on a Saturday) a member of our ward who lives in the apartments ran out of his house. We had just introduced ourselves to this member the Sunday before. Turns out he was helping the young men with a fundraiser that day. We told him that we use the gym and that the code had been changed. He whipped out his phone and said they sent him an email with the new code the night before. We got the code and had a great work out! I tell you this story to show that miracles do happen! (haha)

I wanted to relate this story to faith. In the book True to the Faith it says, "Faith is a principle of action and power." In James 2 we learn that "Faith without works is dead" and Ether tells us that "if there be no faith among the children of men God can do no miracle among them." Faith is more than just believing. True faith leads us to act and that is when miracles happen. We had faith that somehow we could get into the gym even though we didn't have the code anymore. We showed our faith by acting and waking up early just like any other day. When we got there, nobody was there to open the door for us, but we still got in. We got in in a better way than we had even thought of. Even when we have faith, God doesn't always answer our prayers. At least not in the way that we want them answered. I know that as we have faith in Christ and act upon that faith, God will answer our prayers and guide our lives. I see that in missionary work all the time. I love this gospel and I know it is true.

XOXO,

Elder Miles

May 27, 2014 - Temple Trip

Elder Miles and Elder Mathews at the DC Temple

We got to take our semi-annual trip to the temple yesterday. There are only four Mondays in the year where the temple is open, so because of Memorial Day it was open until noon. It’s about a 45 minute drive from where we live. We did that in the morning and then the member family we were with took us to Texas Roadhouse! It had been a very long time since I had eaten ribs :). Last time I went to the temple was when I was in Sterling rooming with Elder Mathews. I love going to the temple because of the spirit that is there. I wish we could go more often, but I guess I’m lucky to be able to go at all.

We still don’t have a washing machine or an AC. It hasn’t been bad lately because it hasn’t been as hot outside, but it is starting to warm up again. Our upstairs feels like an oven. I can’t even brush my teeth without getting sweaty (haha). Elder Mathews washed our clothes at the Zone Leaders apartment when we were on exchange, so that should last me a little while... The guy who owns the place was supposed to get it fixed a couple weeks ago. We will see how long it takes. Your prayers would be appreciated.

This week we helped a lady who is moving. We helped her load stuff into a huge horse trailer that she is using for hauling instead of a moving truck. We started talking to this lady because a member family lives across the street and they told us she could use some help. She is known to take in crazy people who are on drugs and stuff and she is moving to get away from it all. I definitely wouldn’t feel comfortable living there. One of the guys there was looking absolutely wasted and she said he is on all kinds of drugs. It was pretty funny though because he didn’t even know what was going on.

The same family that told us about her has a 10 year old son who isn’t baptized yet for certain reasons. We visited them and they asked if we would teach their son so he could get baptized. They had tried in the past, but the sisters that taught him were "doormats" and "too serious" and he didn’t like that (haha). We were having a good time and connecting pretty well, so they asked us to teach him. He wants to get baptized and they are trying to pick a date. We have a lesson with them later tonight. We are probably going to do some mountain biking or something with them on a preparation day. We have some other people we have been talking to, but nobody to solid yet. We have been working really hard, so that will be turning around anytime now!

This is the true church and I wish I could help everyone to feel the same way I do! Not everyone listens and not everyone likes us (we also had two guys this week try to bible bash with us), but when we find people who are prepared, it makes it all worth it.

Love,

Elder Miles

Elder Miles at the DC Temple

May 19, 2014 - Elder Ballard!

This was a great week! We had Zone Conference all morning and afternoon on Friday and then on Saturday we had our Tri-Mission conference with Elder M. Russell Ballard! The Tri Mission conference was from 2-4pm at the stake center next to the DC temple. All the missionaries had permission to leave the mission with their cars. It was about a 45 minute drive for us to get there. We were supposed to be seated by 1:15, but just to be safe and get good seats we left early and got there at 12:15. I think we were the last ones there (haha). It was already packed when we got there. Luckily nobody was allowed to be seated yet, so everyone was in the gym talking to people. It was fun to have some time to talk to people that I haven’t seen for awhile. I even saw a Hanneman (a cousin or something) who was in the Baltimore mission (it was us, Baltimore, and DC North).

When the time was approaching to be seated we started lining up at the doors of the chapel. When we finally got in the chapel was already full, but with my 20/20 vision I spotted two seats that nobody was sitting in. We snuck our way to the spot and snagged our second row seats! We were sitting on the side benches on the second row so we had prime seating. We were supposed to shake Elder Ballard’s hand at 1:30, but he didn’t get there until 2. When he walked in, everybody stood up. He was shorter than I imagined. It was awesome to see the light that illuminates from an apostle.

Elder Wong and Elder Christiansen of the seventy spoke first then Elder Ballard spoke for about an hour. He started off by telling a funny story about his mission. He served in England and back in those days they would stand on a box in a public square and start preaching. When he arrived they chose two of the new missionaries to get up and start preaching in public. He was chosen. He said he spouted off everything he knew about baptism in about a minute and a half. He said he was sure it made no sense and he felt bad because he didn’t know much. From then on he committed to learning as much as he could and becoming a great missionary. He also spoke about us talking to as many people as we can, about Preach My Gospel, and about being real with people. Several times while he was speaking he looked me right in the eyes. He also cracked some jokes. The spirit was strong and I learned a lot.

For personal study on Saturday morning I read a couple of Elder Ballard’s recent General Conference talks. Here is one of the quotes that I really loved from the October 2013 conference: "There is no greater joy in life than being anxiously engaged in the service of the Lord." I invite everyone to join in the hastening of the work if you have not already. That is where true happiness is found.  I know when we lose our lives in the service of the Lord that is when we find ourselves! The Lord has hastened his work. Are you keeping up?

Love,

Elder Miles

May 12, 2014 - Happy Mothers Day!

Elder Miles

It was great to see everyone yesterday! Corey was the most different. He was so tall and his voice was deep! That was strange (haha). Time always goes really fast when we get to Skype home. I don't have too much to report on because we just talked yesterday, but I’ll write a little bit.

There is a big lake in our area (Burke Lake) and we spent some time talking to people there a

Elder Miles at Burke Lake

few days ago. It is a good place to talk to people because they are just sitting on the benches or taking a walk. It rained while we were there but we had our umbrellas. It is a pretty big lake and I am hoping that we can round up some fishing poles here soon and go fishing on a preparation day.

Boys and railroad tracks

I read the talk by Brad Wilcox at a BYU devotional titled "His Grace is Sufficient". I have heard it before, but when I read it yesterday it really opened up my eyes and made me appreciate Jesus Christ so much more. I encourage you to read (or re-read) it. (http://speeches.byu.edu/?act=viewitem&id=1966). I have grown to love and appreciate the gospel so much! I finished reading the book "Jesus the Christ" a couple weeks ago. I think it is the longest book I have ever read by far (almost 800 pages) and I loved every page of it!

I have grown to feel like Nephi did “My soul delighteth in the scriptures, and my heart

Lots of trees around Burke

pondereth them… my soul delighteth in the things of the Lord; and my heart pondereth continually upon the things which I have seen and hear.”  I am so thankful for this time to serve the Lord and come to know him better.

 -Elder Miles

May 5, 2014 - Burke

I got transferred on Thursday last week to the Burke ward in the Annandale, Virginia Stake of Zion! It is also known as the ward that President Riggs and his family attend! We saw their family in sacrament meeting. I was told that President doesn't come very often because he has to speak in other wards nearly every week, but because of fast Sunday he was there. Burke is more central in our mission then my past two areas. It is a really nice area with tons of trees. There are a lot of forest/grove like areas that we ride out bikes through a lot. Yes I am on bike again... (haha). I was hoping for a car for the summer months, but for now I won’t have one. It is probably somewhere in the middle in my mission as far as average income of the residents. I’ve met quite a few members of the ward now and they seem great.

Elder Miles and Zohra

Our ward boundaries aren't too big but it will be hard to remember where our area ends. Both my past areas were the area between the Potomac River and a major road, so it was easy to remember what the boundary was.

My new companion is Elder Mathews from Mesa, Arizona. He played football at Mountain View High School and graduated the same year as me. If you remember, I also roomed with him for 3 months in the Algonkian ward! He was trained by Elder Johnson at the same time I was training Elder Seely so we already know each other pretty well. He has been out 7 months. He is awesome and we are going to have a lot of fun together. He has already been here for 2 transfers so we might only be together for one transfer. Speaking of Elder Johnson, he is now in our zone so I will get to see him every week too! I haven't met all of our investigators yet, but I will let you know more about them next week!

Elder Miles and an investigator family from Mount Vernon

I am still a District Leader and I have 3 other companionships in my district.  Our ward has us and a set of Sisters.  No APs or Zone Leaders here. It was sad to leave some people in my last area but I felt like it was time to leave and experience a new area.

My allergies have really been terrible this week. Yesterday was the worst! I have been congested and my eyes are really itchy and watery. I have been taking some medication but it hasn't helped enough! I’m going to buy some different meds today and hopefully they will work better. I could barely talk to anyone yesterday without sneezing! (haha) Elder Mathews had to take over on most of the tracting. It has been hard to sleep as well because I have to blow my nose so much. Hopefully this doesn't last long!

We live in a town home with one other set of Elders. Guess who is in the other

Town home in Burke, VA

companionship? Elder Josh Smith that I played football with at Lone Peak! He lives in the town home as well but they have a car and are assigned to a different ward. He came out at the same time as Elder Mathews. The town home has a lot of room which is nice, but it is not the nicest place.... It is kind of dirty and run down (haha). The AC is broken and the guy that came to fix it says that the whole system needs to be replaced. My desk and chair are not the best either but what makes it all better is that there is a Café Rio just up the road! I haven't eaten at Café Rio since I was at the airport in SLC before I flew out here so I am excited about that. I think we might go for lunch today :).

Everyone could definitely pray for our investigators!   Sending a Book of Mormon with your testimony would be cool as well.

Love,

Elder Miles