April 13th to 19th

HEY!!!

I hope that all is well for everyone! We had an AWESOME week. Let me tell ya about it. We worked really well with members this week, we had a few really good lessons with Roberto (Our new investigator that use to be the investigator of the zone leaders but he moved into our areas boundaries). We have a member here named Antonio, which is a stud member that loves to help the missionaries. So we had a lot of lecciones with him together with Roberto this week. Roberto came to church this week! He is struggling with a lot of difficult problems right now. One of them is that he wants to be a perfect person and keep all of the commandments 100% before he gets baptized, which is great, but he has a lot of doubts about being baptized. But we saw a ton of progress this week and he has made the decision to follow through with his baptism this saturday!!! Wooooo!!! The first baptism in Armenia 1 in over a year!! We are super happy. We are going to make his baptism this saturday really really special, we are going to work really hard to invite all the members that we can to make him feel really good. He is a super special person to me, he tries so hard to be a good person and is going to be a great member of the church. So that is exciting. ALSO, Omar came to church this week! We were able to work really well with him and members this week. A lot of his uncles and his grandma are members of the church, so we have been inviting them to come and particpate in the lessons with Omar. Omar is 19 years old, and he lives with his grandma. This sunday when he came to church, the members really helped us a ton by making him feel really welcome, he made a lot of friends with the youth. He is now really committed and excited for his baptism on May 18th. I sure hope that I stay another transfer her to be able to be here for it! We also worked really with Ruben this week, Antonio accompanied us to many lessons with him this week too, but unfortunately, he didnt come to church this week again. We are starting to think that we will have to stop teaching him if he doesnt start coming to church, which is really hard and devastating as a missionary because we have come so close to him. This week has been a really rewarding week for me, its been really great to see the results of a lot of hard work. This week has also given me a lot of self confidence as a missionary and as the leader of an area. 

This sunday was also extremely special because we had an area seventy come to our sacrament, Elder Remeu. He is from Buenos Aires. He spoke about the importance of keeping the sabbath day holy. It was a great talk, and I got to shake his hand at the end. We had a record breaking church attendance of 108 this sunday. That is AWESOME for Armenia. ANDDDD!! This week, on friday, Elder Dallin H. Oaks is coming to speak to all the missionaries in our mission!! I am so excited!! He is one of my very favorite apostles, I have read like 3 of his books. So I am just stoked about that. This coming week is for sure going to be a week to remember. 

 Being a missionary is very hard, its sometimes super hard and frustrating to see the difference that all that we do makes. Its a rollercoaster of good days and bad days. Happy days with your companion in unity, struggling days with your companion in unity. But its all worth it, a missionary gains so much more than he could ever lose. Something that I have noticed this week is that the mission isnt just changing my habits, its changing my nature. Which is really different. If I just follow rules because I want to follow rules, that is changing my habits. If I follow a rule out of the love that i have for my savior and Heavenly Father, that is a change in nature. Another example, at the start of my mission, I really didnt like to serve my companion that much. I would hate to wash his dishes. But I am now changing my nature, I love to serve my companion, I look forward to washing his dishes because it makes me feel super good. The mission is a great opportunity to serve God, to whom we are eternally indebited, but we also get a TON out of it for ourselves, we get the great chance to change our nature. A mission is like 10 years of experience condensed into 2. I really am starting to love the mission. I have learned a ton about attitude, about controling my own happiness. I dont mean to brag, I have just noticed great changes in myself and I recommend a mission to everyone that can! 

Well, thats about all. We had a great week. I hope that you all have a great week too. Thank you for all your help and support, thank you for the emails! I bear my testimony as a representative of Jesus Christ that He lives, that He loves us, and that there is a divine purpose for us in this life. The greatest peace and happiness lies for us in his church, which has been restored to earth today. I hope you all have a great week, thank you!

Love, 

Elder T. Miles