5-28-12

It has been rather warm here. A bit humid, but not as bad as it was a week or so ago. Still pretty comfortable. I worry about how bad it's gonna get, but I try not to worry. I'm supposed to be here. So I know I'll be able to handle the heat. :)

Ooh, had a pretty nice meal this sunday at a member's house. Had some chile concarne (spelling?) kinda stuff with corn and beans and meat and some onions. It was tasty. We also had rolls and juice. Afterwards, she served us some sticky rice stuff. I got the recipie from her. First you make plenty of rice. Then you mix equal parts brown sugar and coconut milk and mix well while cook until the brown sugar all melts and it gets sticky. Then start adding rice until it reaches a good consistency. It should turn out as rice with sticky tasty sauce stuff all over it. It shouldn't be runny or like pudding or anything. It was delicious. :)

I actually think that street contacting is more scary than doors. After you ring the doorbell, you're already in for it, so you just do what you can, and then walk away. With street contacting, you have to try to stop someone on the street and talk to them. And they are not very likely to stop and talk to you. And even when they do, once they hear that you are talking about religion, most of them say any one of a variety of kurt, though not overly rude phrases, all pretty much meaning no and walk away. Silly people don't know what they're missing out on. :)

Had a wonderful fireside last night (Sunday night) from one of President Pimmentel's old companions. Wonderful theme about miracles and going big and not letting opportunities pass you by. :)

Anyway, it seems that this post may be a little short, but I can't think of a whole lot else to talk about. -shrug-

I hope you all have a wonderful week! Feel free to email me if you aren't already. :)

Keep your Light and Happiness close. Never walk away from truly good and pure things. Keep your standards from slipping. And always remember to find the good. :) Talk to you next week!

-Elder Micahel Miles

5-21-12

Hello everyone! I hope your weeks have been going well. Mine has been.

We had some cold weather too. Cloudy and windy. We have had a couple days now though with very nice warm weather. And today is shaping up to be very warm and pretty. :)

The food has been strange, but not horrible. When something comes along that I really just do not want to eat, it is usually simple enough not to eat it. The families are all very nice, and all seem to understand that I might not like all of what they are serving. It's nice.

Still planning on making pigs in the blanket and such. Found some meat that seems to closely resemble hot dogs, and my companion says that it's about as close as we're going to get as far as flavor. They come in jars! A lot of things come in glass jars here. It's odd.

The work out here is going well. A lot of people that we can't seem to get a hold of, and plenty of people canceling on appointments, or not showing up. But it doesn't bother me. Did doors for the first time the other day. Liked it more than street contacting. It wasn't so bad. Helped me to think about relying on the Lord, and simply conveying his message. :)

I also have been striving to simplify how I think about the Gospel. I feel that I have a full, great understanding of it all, but I very easily get caught up in the details, and that can be bad in a lesson, because it can confuse the investigator, and distract the overall atmosphere from the true message of the lesson. It is nice learning to simplify. :)

Things are going well out here in any case. Plenty well off buying groceries and such. (Easier than I thought ;P) Getting along well with my companion. He is easy going and laid back, and a good missionary. Weird though, because he is going home after this transfer. Normally a new missionary would get two transfers (three months) with his first trainer, but I am going to have only one transfer (six weeks), and then I will have a new trainer. A 'step dad'. Your trainer is called your dad, his trainer is your grandpa, etc. Other people that your trainer has trained are your brothers, the end of your mission is death, the start is birth, your first area is the area you were born in, lots of funny terminology.

Anyway, I'm off. Have a wonderful week everyone! And remember, at the end of the day, no matter what kind of a day you have had, you are always the one in charge of how you feel about how that day went. You decide whether to focus on all the disappointments and shortcomings, or the positives and progress. Decide to dwell on happy things, and keep moving forward. Have fun! Talk to you next week. And feel free to email me if you aren't already. (Cody, Danny, would love to hear from you.)

Elder Michael Miles

Skype call.

 We (Michael's Family) were able to talk to him today on mothers day. Here are some screenshots of the call. The person in the second photo is his current Companion.

May 7th 2012

Hello everyone! It's crazy, it feels like it's been like 2 weeks since I emailed last! I hope things are going well for everyone.

 

Things have been kinda crazy, but good. Still picking up more German every day, but having a hard time understanding a lot of people. I need to be patient though. I know it will come eventually. It is odd to me that I can communicate ok, I just can't understand. Seems like normally it's the other way around from what I hear. Usually people talk about being able to understand but not being able to speak it. I guess I simply haven't had enough exposure yet to native speakers.

 

We have a grill out on our back deck. ... I don't know if I told you that already... It's been fun though. We have roasted some marshmallows and tried to do hotdogs once, but they didn't really taste like hot dogs... :P

 

We had a baptizm yesterday! It was a pretty cool spiritual experience. Everyone was all excited and I felt a little awkward not being even close to as excited as they were. But it doesn't really feel like my baptizm because I only showed up to watch it happen. I didn't really get to help it happen. That's ok though. The litle bit of participation I did get was very cool. It was a very spiritual experience.

 

I still don't understand most of the church meetings. I'm getting better and better at conversations though. As long as the person speaks clearly, doesn't use big words, and doesn't say too much at once, thereby giving me ample time to process each question and statement, I can actually carry on conversation rather well. I know that I am messing up a lot of conjugation, but that's ok. They still understand me.

 

Another tricky thing about the German language is that they have two forms of the word you. The formal version is 'Sie', and the informal is 'du'. When someone is a young teenager or younger, or one of your peers, or a close friend, you use the 'du' form. Otherwise, it is respectful to use the 'Sie' form. If you try to use the 'du' form with someone, especially someone rather older, that you do not know, they can get rather offended, depending on the person. It's a tricky thing... Also, close friends that you use the 'Sie' form with might feel that you are being unecessarilly cold and formal... It's ok though. I'm slowly getting used to it. :)

 

So as you all may know, mission rules vary greatly depending on your mission president. One of the changes that my mission president has decided on, is that it takes just as much time and distraction, if not less, to write an email, as it does to write a letter. Thereby, we have express permission to take up email correspondences with all those that would normally write us letters. We therefore do not really set aside time for letter writting, only emails. If you do want to keep in correspondence with me, please feel free to email me at mmiles@myldsmail.net. I would be happy to hear from you.

 

Along those lines:

-Grandma and Grandpa Miles, please do email me.
-Grandma Diane, I plan to respond to your letters via email at some point. Forgot to bring your letters along with me today. X/ Please feel free to write me. I'd love to hear from you. :) 

-ShayleeAnn, I sent you an email in response to your letter. I hope it got to you. Couldn't remember if I got your email address right. Hope to hear from you soon. Let me know if you didn't get any email.

-Erick, I want to write you back via email, but I don't have your address. Please email me and I will make sure to respond to your letter. Looking forward to it.

-Molly, I also am lacking your email address. Prompt supplying of such would be greatly appreciated. I would love to hear from you.

-Any others that would like to continue writting me, I would love to hear from you! Talk to you then. :)

-Again, that address is mmiles@myldsmail.net.

 

The food has been a bit different, but not too much so. The few eating appointments we have had so far have been stomachable and at least mildly enjoyable. :)

 

We are rather well off financially, and are able to buy rather good food thereby for our appartment. That's been nice. The cereal tastes totally different. Will have to find new favorites...

 

Been reading a whole lot in Jesus the Christ lately. It has been really cool to read. Really eye opening and explanatory. Love it love it. I would once again encourage you all to read it. :) Also, do all that you can to read from the scriptures, particularly the Book of Mormon every day. The modern-day prophets have promised a LOT of blessings for doing so. And there are NO excuses. Even if it means taking ten minutes out of your sleep before you go to bed, I can promise you that it will be worth it. Heavenly Father will always help you find the time, or help you get the rest you need in spite of having stayed up the extra few minutes. You'll thank yourself for it. :)

 

I love you guys. Thank you so much for your support. Make this week a wonderful week. You always have the choice. Keep Christ close. He will always watch out for you. And lastly, remember to love. :)

 

Oh! One more thing! I don't know if I've shared this already, but there was a sister back in the MTC that shared a cool idea. Someone told her that whenever they are taking the sacrament, they listen to the water cups drop back into the tray, and they are always reminded of the sound of drops of blood that Christ so lovingly suffered for that person's sins that week. She said it changed the sacrament for her forever. Now it has done the same for me. It brings me so much more reverence and focus. I hope you all can benefit from similar Christ focused thoughts during your Sabbath-day observance. :)

 

Talk to you next week!

 

-Elder Miles, Lieutenant Mikey, Michael, Calcium