May 18, 2015 - My last transfer!

Last week we received this email from Elder Miles -

I just read my weekly email from President Riggs. This is what he said: "I would like to meet with you after transfer meeting. The Lord has an interesting assignment for you."

I have no idea what that means... but I assume that means I am getting transferred. I will let you know next week what my "interesting assignment" will be.


On Saturday we received this email -

Elders Miles and Johnson with the mission transfer board

I was transferred back to the Burke ward on Thursday. Guess who my new companion is!?!? You guessed it! It's Elder Johnson! Our "interesting assignment" is that we are traveling assistants. President Riggs said technically he isn't allowed to have 4 assistants, but that we are basically traveling assistants. He told the mission we are "traveling trainers". We will be on exchanges with others Elders all over the mission 4 days a week. I will fill you in with more details on Monday.
Love you!


Here's this week's email -

I found out what my "interesting assignment" would be on Monday evening last week. Elder Johnson called and asked me if President Riggs had talked to me. I told him no, but explained the email that he sent me. His response was that we were definitely going to be companions! He said he received a similar email, but then he learned more when he ran into President Riggs later in the day. I don't remember all the details, but essentially from everything he gathered he figured we would be companions. He called me just to confirm his suspicions. He was told we would be some sort of "traveling trainers". That got me super excited and all

Elders Miles and Johnson in President Riggs' office

week I was pumped for transfer meeting.

Everyone was pretty shocked when we were put together because most people know we are really good friends. We were in the MTC together, roommates for 6 months, and were in the same zone for 3 other transfers. It was just fitting for us to finish out together as well. President Riggs announced to the mission that we would be traveling around the mission to train missionaries. After the meeting we met with him briefly to learn a little more about our assignment. He told us that he received some pretty strong spiritual impressions about the need to extend this assignment to us. President Riggs said "the missionary department says I can't have 4 assistants, but if I could you would be called traveling assistants". Instead we are "traveling trainers".

Our assignment is to spend the entire day with a companionship to train them on the work 4 times a week (Tues-Fri). We will leave our apartment after studies, spend the entire day training and working with them, and then get home at 10 or later. We are going to be doing this with some of the younger companionships that will really take our training to heart and apply it. We are really excited for our assignment, but exchanges can really wear you out. We are going to be pretty tired by the end of this. We will only proselyte in the Burke ward Sat-Mon, so it will be hard to get as much work done in our own area.

We have some pretty nice perks as well. We have another Ford Fusion which is one of the nicest cars, we get extra money (since we will have to eat out a lot), and we have really comfy queen size mattresses. It was awesome to see some of the members of the Burke ward again at church yesterday. A lot of people remembered me even though I wasn't here too long. President and Sister Riggs are speaking in other wards every week before they leave, so they weren't at church. Their 3 daughters were all surprised and excited that I am back in their ward.

At the same time I was sad to leave the Manassas 1st Ward.

Elder Miles with Sophia and Destiny

Mostly because I wanted to be in the ward when Destiny and Sophia get baptized and so I could make sure they are ready for the date we set with them. I trust Elder Wagner will do a good job though. I will still get to go back and attend the baptism next month. They were both sad that I was leaving to a new area as well.

It is going to be a really busy final transfer for us!

Love,

Elder Braden Miles

Washington DC South Mission

May 11, 2015 - Happy Mothers Day!

Elder Miles at the site of the Battle of Bull Run

Remember how while we were Skyping yesterday you asked if I have crazy experiences while tracting? Well last night we went tracting right after dinner (by the way the members made us the best salmon I have ever tasted. It was amazing). After about 30 minutes of knocking doors, we see an Asian looking guy getting his mail. As usual, we approach him and start talking to him. After talking to so many people over the course of my mission, I can tell very quickly the level of someone’s interest in what we have to say. In the first 30 seconds of talking to him it was apparent that he wanted to "teach us a thing or two about Jesus". For the next hour or so he told us all about how all we need is grace and the bible is God's only word. He talked basically the whole time. At one point I looked over at Elder Wagner and he had the most blank stare on his face I have ever seen (see Acts 20:9). At the end he invited us to read the bible and seek for truth. We informed him that we do that every day, thanked him, and continued knocking doors.

Elder Miles with a statue of Stonewall Jackson

After receiving that hour long sermon, we visited a "lost sheep" on the ward list. It was a Cambodian family and they had some sort of party going on. Some drunk guy basically dragged us into their house and was trying to make us sit down and eat some food. I escaped the drunk guy and started talking to some of the other people. Elder Wagner wasn't quite so lucky. He ended up "entertaining" the drunk guy for about 10 minutes. He said the guy made him pray for him and was trying to hold his hand (haha). The people I talked to were pretty cool and want us to come back sometime. We never did find the guy on the ward list though.

Destiny and Sophia are doing great. They were going to

Home at the Battle of Bull Run site

come to church, but Destiny was pretty sick. They are coming this upcoming Sunday. Hopefully I am still here in the area (I will find out tomorrow if I am getting transferred). We started teaching them about the Plan of Salvation and it went really well. We are getting better at teaching really simply, so they can understand. I also feel like they are learning a lot and getting better at comprehending the gospel. We have another lesson with them tonight and then they are going to mutual on Tuesday. They are both really excited to get baptized on June 13th!

It is hard to believe I will be starting my last transfer on Thursday. I want to make the most of it!

Until next week,

Elder Braden Miles

Washington DC South Mission

"There stands Elder Miles like a stone wall" - Elder Braden Miles

"GQ pose" - Elder Braden Miles

Cannon at the site of the Battle of Bull Run

May 4, 2015

Elder McInerny, Jason, and Elder Miles

This past weekend was great! On Saturday morning we had breakfast with the Stake President and his family then went straight to Jason's baptism. One of the members from the Singles Ward baptized Jason. Elder McInerny and I were asked to be the witnesses. Jason is a really tall guy, so we were afraid it might take a couple of tries. It took about 30 seconds to help them get situated in the best spot so that Jason wouldn’t smack his head on the wall (haha). When he was walking up the stairs out of the font I heard him say to the guy that baptized him "Wow. I feel amazing". He bore his testimony afterwards and it was really powerful. He talked about how he knew he needed God in his life, so he was attending a bunch of different churches. He was throwing down on other churches a bit and it was pretty funny. He said he could tell they were teaching false doctrines and all they wanted was money. Then he talked about how strongly he could feel the spirit as soon as he started learning about the church and he knew right away it was what he needed in his life.

While we were teaching Jason we told him about how amazing he would feel after he got baptized. During his testimony he was like "Man, you all weren't lying about the feelin!" He is so in tune with the spirit. He already knows how to recognize and act on it. I talked with him after about if he has considered serving a mission (he is 19) and he said he is going to pray and ask God if it is something he should do. I have no doubt if he prays about it that he will go on a mission because of how close he is to the spirit. He would be a powerful missionary! He has already been getting his mom and sister to go back to church (they are inactive members) and he has been trying to get his friend to come to church.

Larry and Elder Miles

On Sunday, Larry (that we passed off to the other missionaries) showed up at our sacrament service. We asked him why he was at our meetings and he said he was following the map on his phone (thinking he was going to the other building) and he just showed up at ours. He has told us several times he likes our ward better, so that might have something to do with it... (haha). He was the last person to get up and bear his testimony during sacrament meeting. Everyone in the ward loves him and they were all on the edge of their seats listening to him. He told a story about an event that changed his life.

He was in the navy, played college football (defensive end), and was a professional boxer. Back then he was not a religious guy at all. He picked up a guy on the side of the road because his car broke down. The guy ended up pulling a gun on him and trying to steal his car. To make a long story short, he heard an audible voice tell him what to do and he ended up getting the gun and turning the guy into the police. He felt that God had saved his life and that caused him to instantly change his life. He was telling the story in detail over the pulpit and it was pretty crazy!  At the end of his testimony he was like "I guess I am going to be what you call a convert too because I am going to get baptized.” After sacrament meeting everyone swarmed him to tell him how much the loved his testimony.

The member that had been Jason's fellowshipper was already having Jason, his mom, and us over for dinner, so she invited Larry to come join us and he did. It was really fun. I might not see any of them again if I get transferred next week, so I am glad it all worked out. Then we took a recent convert from the ward to the "New Member Fireside" and it was good as always.

Harrison Littledike (my trainer) moved to Manassas to do summer sales, so we are going to go to lunch with him sometime this week hopefully. Destiny and Sophia are doing well and we are having a lesson with them tonight in a member’s home.

Love, 

Elder Braden Miles

Washington DC South Mission

April 27, 2015 - Squirrel Bomb

This week we had lunch with Robert (I taught and baptized him in the Braddock YSA ward). He came down to Manassas and took us to a really good pizza place. We got a huge pizza for all of us and it was $30. He has been doing really good. He has done baptisms at the temple 4-5 times already and is almost finished reading the Book of Mormon. He received the Aaronic priesthood and is working on getting the Melchizedek priesthood right now. He also has a calling that has to do with family history work. He is getting married in California on June 20th, but they are going to live in Virginia still. It was great to talk with him again. He wants to take us out one more time before I leave.

Destiny and Sophia have been doing great. We have been teaching them twice a week and they have learned a lot. They went to mutual on Tuesday and played "food fear factor". They met a lot of the youth in the ward and had a great time. They were pretty nervous before hand. When it was their turn during fear factor they both had to eat baby food (haha). That was the first time I had been to a youth activity on my whole mission and it was a bit strange. Since so many people live in their house, we meet new people every time we go over there. This week we met two of their male cousins that are in high school and we gave each of them a Book of Mormon. Both of them are interested in learning more and we hope to start teaching them this week. The first time one of their cousins sat in one of the lessons with us, Destiny and Sophia told him about how fun mutual is and about how much the gospel has changed their lives. It is awesome to hear investigators share their testimonies with other people.

We also taught Chris and Katherine on Monday. They are great investigators, but it has been really hard to stay in contact with them. They have crazy schedules and sleep during the day. We are really focusing on finding new investigators this week because the rest of ours have slowly fallen off.

We had a couple of exchanges this week. On Tuesday, while I was with one of our district leaders, one of the members of our ward came to a lesson with us to teach a less active family. This member is usually a bit difficult, but after the lesson he sincerely complimented us on how "beautiful" the lesson was. On Friday, I went back to the Braddock ward on exchanges with the assistants. While we were in their apartment getting ready for bed some other Elders opened the door to their apartment, threw in a very large plastic Easter egg, and yelled "squirrel bomb". I felt like the whole world was in slow motion as the egg hit the ground and a squirrel flew out and started running around their apartment. We spent the next 10 minutes trying to chase it out the door. It was pretty hilarious. I am just glad it wasn't my apartment (haha).

We had zone conference on Friday as well and it was really good. It was President Riggs last zone conference. We taught the zone about how to qualify for the spirit using a talk by President Eyring titled "Serve with the Spirit". We didn't have a whole lot of time, so it went really fast. Then yesterday we had a regional stake conference. It was broadcast from Salt Lake City to all the stakes in the Northeastern US. Elder Anderson and Elder Hales were the main speakers. I saw Jason and Larry (old investigators that we passed off) at the conference. Jason is getting baptized this Saturday. Larry told me he is getting baptized for sure, but doesn't feel quite ready yet. It was good to see both of them.

Love,

Elder Braden Miles

Washington DC South Mission

April 20, 2015

There are a couple of really exciting days coming up soon! Jason (that we passed to the Singles Ward) is getting baptized on May 2 and Larry (we passed to the other Manassas Ward) is getting baptized on May 9! I am really excited to attend their baptisms. The best investigators that we have right now in our area are the two Cambodian/Hispanic girls that we have been teaching. Their names are Destiny (14) and Sophia (15). On Monday night Destiny sent us a text that said she had a question about baptism. We asked her what the question was and she responded by saying "I want to get baptized". It wasn't really a question, but I will take it.

We had a lesson on Thursday while I was on exchanges with one of our District Leaders. They have both been reading and praying. It has been a slower learning process since they are young and have a Buddhist background, but they have had some cool experiences. We were talking about how faith is like a seed and I asked them what blessings they have seen in their lives since we started meeting with them. They both shared several examples and were beaming the whole time. Then we read about baptism from 2 Nephi 31 with them and invited them both to "follow the example of Jesus Christ". They both accepted and we set the baptismal date for June 13! They both really want to have "a fresh start".

President Riggs met Destiny when he came on exchanges with us back in March. We were supposed to have a lesson with their uncle who is a member of the church. He wasn't there, but we asked Destiny if she would like to learn about Jesus and she told us she would. After we left, President Riggs told us if we could start teaching her she would get baptized within two months. It won't be within two months, but it was still pretty prophetic.

This transfer we had two wards added to our zone which also puts the stake center in our zone boundaries. All of the Elders in the zone are getting together today to play some basketball. I am pretty excited because I haven't played in a long, long time. We also have Zone Conference this upcoming week. It will be President Riggs' last Zone Conference, so I am sure he will make it very good. We also have to present on "the qualifications for having the companionship of the Holy Ghost".

The weather has been beautiful and I love being a missionary!

Elder Braden Miles

Washington DC South Mission

April 13, 2015 - Transfer week/cherry blossoms

It was transfers on Thursday and Elder McInerny got moved

Elders Miles and Wagner (from Heber City)

to a new area. We were together for a long time. We did work and had fun. My new companion is Elder Wagner. He grew up in South Carolina and then moved to Heber City when he was 10. Turns out uncle Hal was his Young Men's President while he was a Priest. He has been out for 18 months and is in his first Zone Leader area, so I am "training" him on how to be a Zone Leader. He graduated in 2013 from Wasatch High School. He is a pretty funny kid and I think we will have a good time together. It will probably only be for five weeks because this is a short transfer and President Riggs told me I will likely train for my last transfer.

I am currently writing this email on my iPad while we are riding the metro into DC. We are going to see the Cherry Blossom Festival... And basically the whole mission is going today from what I've heard. I went last year and it was pretty cool. Hard to believe that was a year ago. It is a perfect day to be in

Cherry blossoms and the Jefferson Memorial

DC. It’s 75 degrees and sunny with a slight breeze.

We are trying to build our teaching pool again now that we had to pass off several investigators to other wards. We met a girl and her fiancé the other night while we were tracting and they were pretty cool. They were outside grilling, so we sat down and started talking. She asked us several questions about Adam and Eve as well as what happens when we die. We used the Book of Mormon to answer her questions and she loved it! She was really excited to read it. She was even telling her fiancé all about how we answered her questions using the scriptures. They didn't come to church yesterday, but we are going to stop by this
week and hopefully we can start teaching them.

Our investigator, Brittany, got into some anti-Mormon materials this week and had several questions for us. She said she needs to keep reading and praying before she lets us know if she wants to continue learning. I feel like we did a really good job answering her concerns and testifying to her, so I am hopeful that things will turn out. She is gone right now because of a family members health concerns, so I will update you on her in the future.

The guy we helped dig a hole a few weeks ago made us ribs this week. We helped him sort some stuff in his garage and he grilled some ribs :). Last time he made us some really good burgers, but because we wouldn't accept payment he wanted to make us ribs.

Elder Miles at the Cherry Blossom Festival

We are teaching another part-member family right now. It is a huge Cambodian family and several of them are inactive members. Right now we are teaching a less active guy in his 20's and his two non-member sisters that are 14 and 15. They have been reading and praying every day. They have a Buddhist background so it is going slower, but they are really interested. We are having a lesson with them tonight in a member’s home, so they can meet some young women their age.

(Stopped typing to walk around DC)

The cherry blossoms were not as good this year, so we only stayed

Elder Miles on the Metro

in DC for a couple hours. There were tons of people there and lots of missionaries. We are just going to head back and relax for a little
while. 

Love you!

April 6, 2015 - General Conference brings blessings

In the western most part of the mission

We had an awesome week! We could tell it would be a great week because we had a lot of solid appointments set up. Surprisingly, most of them actually happened! We had a lesson with Jason on Monday at a member’s house. He had dinner with the members before we got there. When we sat down for the lesson the members said "Jason, tell the Elders what you told us". He then told us that he was planning on asking the bishop at church the next week when he could get baptized! We hadn't even talked with him about baptism yet because this was going to be our first real lesson with him. He has loved everything so far. We watched conference yesterday morning at the member’s house with him and he soaked it all in. He read from the Book of Mormon and had some good questions for us too. We have another lesson tonight with him and we are going to choose a baptismal date with him. We are also passing him off to the singles ward missionaries because we feel that would be good for him. He will most likely get baptized in early May and I look forward to attending!

Doing service at a member's farm

We had a lesson with Brittany on Wednesday. She is going through a rough time due to some health concerns in her family. We showed her the new Easter video put out by the church and we teared up a little bit. I hope we brought some needed comfort to her life. She talked about how she knows it wasn't a coincidence we were there that night. She knows that God put us in her life and she is very excited about it. We talked about baptism with her and she said she has never felt the desire to be baptized in her life until now. Hopefully we will be putting her on date this week as well. She watched all of the Saturday sessions of conference by herself and really loved it. We haven't heard back if she watched the ones yesterday.

This week we introduced Larry to the Elders in the other Manassas ward (he lives in their ward boundaries). He was very intrigued by our church... then he watched conference! He had Saturday off of work so he told us he would watch the sessions at his house. After the first session we asked him what he thought and this was his response: "I found it quite enlightening. Many of my questions were answered by the speakers during their presentations, and it makes me eager to witness what follows in the later sessions.

After the second session he sent us this text: "Awesome! Powerful! I'll be at the Stake Temple (he meant stake center) for the 8:00 session." We were also there for the priesthood session so we had some time to talk with him there. After the session our bishop started talking to him and invited him over to watch conference at his house the next day (this is making it very hard to pass him off). After the morning session we met him at the Bishop’s house for lunch. We were talking to him and in a summarized version he was amazed by conference and wants to join the church! He also asked if we could bend the rules and keep him in our ward :). He will definitely be getting baptized and whichever ward it is in I will be there! Conference is great.

Yesterday we had breakfast, lunch, and dinner with

Braden Vaughn Miles (BVM) Rox!

members. First time that has happened on my mission. They were all amazing. We had dinner with a family that is very "well off" and it was incredible. We love eating at their house. They also had some family friends over. The mom has been reading the Book of Mormon and had a lot of questions. She has loved it and we hope to teach them soon! This week was amazing and I wish every week could be this good!

Love,

Elder Braden Miles

Washington DC South Mission

This is know as the best view in the mission