July 13th

Hola todos!

This was a good week! One of the best weeks I have had so far I would say. Abel is still doing divisions with me 4-5 days a week so it doesnt affect me too much right now that I dont have a companion! I think he has been my favorite "companion" that I have had so far.. haha. We are working super hard and we are talking to everyone that we can! This week we found some new investigators but our most promising two investigators are still Dani (The reference from a member, he is going to be baptized the 25th of July, we hope) and Erika, the woman that we found contacting. They are both excited and are progressing really well, reading the B.O.M and praying and everything. But unfortuntely neither of them came to church this week. What I like about Abel is that he has no fear to talk to people, its like he has already been a missionary for a year. This week he placed his first baptismal date on an investigator without me even having to tell him to do it. He just did it. It was awesome, it was a super spiritually moment in the lesson. I bought him ice cream afterwards. haha. Even though my opportunity to train didnt really work out.. I really feel like it was all part of the God`s plan for me this transfer because I have the opportunity now to "train" Abel and help him be prepared for the mission. I love teaching him things that are going to help him in his mission. When I am not with Abel I am with Elder Pacheco and Elder Stout, and that is super fun. In their area we have like 5 investigators that are preparing to be baptized so that is awesome. I love working with them, it is so much fun. Elder Pacheco will be my life long friend. Transfers are in two weeks, so I guess we will see what the Lord wants for me! I would be super happy to stay more time here in Armenia, I love Armenia. It has built me to be the missionary that I am. Today for P-day we did an "asado" (which basically means a barbeque grill where we cook a ton of meat) with almost all the elders of the zone here and with Abel and Javier (our branch mission leader). It was super fun, we throw the football around a little too. Unfortunetly I didnt take any pictures, sorry!

That was my week, it was super good! All is well. I am loving the mission. Speaking of which, I will be hitting the year markthis thursday! Woah!! How fast time passes. I hope that you are all doing good, thank you for your emails!

Elder T. Miles

July 6th

Hello everyone!

This was a pretty good week. So Elder Toledo left last  monday night, so I have been in a trio for this week with Elder Pacheco and Elder Stout and I will be with them until the end of July. Its pretty fun, Elder Pacheco is one of my best friends so it is a blast to be with him. There is a youth here that is preparing to leave on a mission in january, his name is Abel, and he has been helping me a TON this week! Every Wednesday, friday, and sunday we are going to do divisions together so that I can work in my area more. (divisions is when a member from the church is my companion for the day so that Elder Pacheco and Stout can go work in their area and I can work in mine). Abel is an awesome guy, he is super prepared to go on a mission. He has turned his whole life around to be able to go on a mission and its been amazing to see him change. He for sure has been one of my best companions yet and hes not even a real missionary yet. haha. But we are working really hard together! This week Dani came to church again (yay!) and we have been working a lot with him, he has been progressing great and he has committed to being baptized the 25th of July. I am super happy for him, I know that it is going to change his life. Also with Abel this week we found a new investigator named Erika, she is a single mom that has always wanted to see what the LDS church is like but is a little intimidated. Unfortunately she didnt come to church this week but she committed to going to church next week for sure! I am pretty bummed that I missed my favorite holiday of all, the 4th of July, but Elder Stout and I celebrated by singing all 3 verses of the star spangled banner in the morning to wake Elder Pacheco up. 

Attached are a few pictures. The first picture is Elder Toledo and I the day before he left, it was his birthday and I  bought him half a kilogram of ice cream. The sign says "Happy birthday Elder Toledo, little son of mine". The next picture is Elder Pacheco and I holding his Chile flag because Chile won the soccer tournament "copa america" on saturday, its the biggest soccer tournament in south america. The last picture is Abel and I!

June 22th-28th

Hola hola!

Well, this week was a curve ball. It was  an interesting, pretty sad, long week. Elder Toledo (the missionary that im training) misses his house a lot and the mission is really hard for him, and he is going to be going home this week. I really had no idea, everything was going  really well up until last monday when he told me that he wanted to go home. So that is pretty sad. It is definitely understandabe through knowing that this is a completely different life style for him and that in their tribe they have very very strong family bonds. But the mission would really change his life if he could just manage to stick it out. But, thats the way it goes I guess. I think he will be going home tomorrow. I am  pretty sure that I am going to be with my zone leaders for the rest of this transfer in a trio (Elder Pacheco and Elder Stout), which will be fun. We are going to have a lot of help from the youth here, we have two boys that are preparing to leave for missions that are going to help me a lot, so I am going to be doing a lot of divisions with them (thats where they are my companion for a few hours and we can go work in my area). The good part of this week was that we recieved a reference from a member, and he is our new golden investigator. His name is Dani, he has a lot of friends in the church, he is 17 years old and he came to church this week. He has a baptismal date for the 18th of July and I really think that it will go through. So that is exciting, we are going to be working a lot with him this week. All the other investigators that we had fell through. But thats about all for this week, I would just like to bare my testimony that I know that Jesus is the Christ, and that the gospel brings real power into our lives. It makes possible the salvation and it makes us more happy if it live it in our lives. I know that the fulness of this gospel was restored through Joseph Smith.  Thank you for all your emails and support, I hope you have a great week!

Elder Miles

Pictures

Elder Williams and I (my old companion), Omar and

I at his baptism, and Elder Toledo and I

Week of June 15th-21th

Nalhujooy familia!

Taajunashelh?! haha. Thats, "Hi family, how are you?" in nibacle, the native language of my new companion! I was wrong last week, its written nibacle, and its pronounced (KNEE BAH CLAY). As you can see, I am learning his language. So this week was truly awesome, I LOVE training. I was with the zone leaders until wednesday, and then I went to resistencia and picked up my new missionary! As you know, the missionary that I am training is a native indian from Paraguay, from the tribe nibacle. His name is Elder Toledo. He is 22 years old. He comes from a family of 7. He and 4 other new missionaries are some of the first people to serve missions from their tribe. They are super super special humble people. They are incredible. Really humble, excited to learn. The speak very little spanish, but my companion actually speaks pretty alright! The tribe nibacle is a tribe in northern Paraguay. Like 20 years ago 2 missionaries baptized the tribe leader, and all the members of the tribe always follow what the leader does, so they all got baptized too. Its like a book of mormon story, right?!.. Anyway, my companion loves to play soccer, he worked a lot of construction with his dad before the mission. He is quiet, humble, always super happy. They dont have books of mormon in his language, so hes never read the Book of Mormon before. I actually really love teaching him because we are starting from the very basics, and I have to explain everything in really basic terms, which really helps me understand things a lot better and it helps me learn how to teach in a more simple way. He speaks pretty good spanish, he can communicate himself pretty good. A lot better than the missionaries from the U.S. when they are new. Its interesting that he thinks in nibacle..I think in english.. And we both meet half way in spanish. All day long I am like, "hey, how do you say this in nibacle?!" And he says, "hey, how do you say this in english?!" haha. We are loving it. All week we have just been focusing on basics.. How to explain things really simple in order that he can talk in the lessons too. He is really good at bearing his testimony, he always is so happy to tell the people that he knows the lesson is true. It amazes me their desire to serve the Lord, even when they have never read all the way through the Book of Mormon for themselves or dont understand everything completely. They are AWESOME. He is learning really fast. 

This week we contacted all week and we found 2 new investigators. Gerarldo, who almost was baptized a year ago but had a few obstacles and the missionaries stopped visiting him, and now we have found him again and he is excited to come to church. He wants to change his life and he really likes to learn. He is about 30 years old, he is going to have a baby in a few months. We also found Juan, a grandpa that likes to listen to us and wants to come to church. And we are working with Juliana, the investigator that we found last week. She is really catholic but she likes to learn about what we believe and she wants to see what the church is like. So thats what we were able to do this week. I know that God is helping us every step of the way find the people that he is preparing.. Almost everyday this week when all our plans fell through, we decided to contact and we ended up finding new investigators. Things are going really well, I am loving training and I love being companions with Elder Toledo.

This week we are going to try hard to help Elder Toledo talk more in the lessons and have confidence in his ability to explain and teach. I am really excited to train him. I hope that everything is going well for you guys and I hope that you have a great week! Thank you for your emails! Pictures attached: The baptism of Omar last week with all the members, Elder Morrin and I, and Omar with Brother Goytia right after he was baptized. More pictures will be attached in another email!

Elder T. Miles