5-2-13

Hello all!

The week has been hard, but the good kind of hard. The hard work kind. The kind that makes you stretch and grow. Sometimes I don't want it, but good thing that God knows better. :)

So the other day I was doing some simple tracting on exchanges with one of my Zone Leaders, Elder Jex. Elder Jex knocked on a door, and out comes a mildly grumpy old man who starts being a little bit contradictory to what Elder Jex was saying, but not really in a negative way. We talked to him for a bit, and the conversation evolved to where we had a rather nice talk with him for about an hour. Very talkative. He was very friendly after the conversation got moving. He didn't give us much opportunity to share much sadly. Kept changing the topic away from Gospel stuff, but then he reffered us to a friend of his a street over. Upon telling this second man (Herr Schumann (Herr=Mr.)) that we had just talked with his friend, he began talking with us very comfortably, practiced some rather passable English with us, and was happy to set up an appointment with us, pretty much without any questions. Very nice man. It was very cool. Had never really experienced a refferal from a random person before. Wonderful to see the Hand of God in the work. :)

Random German thing!

Every other car is a hatchback-style car.

They do actually drive on the right side of the road. I was worried they would drive on the left.

Their licence plates reference what city the car is regestered in (if you live in too small of a village, you have to go to a nearby larger city to do it), as opposed to the USA plates where it is State-themed.

The traffic lights go from green, to yellow, to red, and then after the red, it transitions back through yellow before turning green. I am not sure why the drivers need a warning that the light will turn green. I think it should just turn green. :P They probably have a good reason though.

Spiritual Thing!

Today I want to testify about Stewardship. Let me share a couple stories, the first being a bad example, the second being an experience of mine.

First story: There was once a young woman who was trying to decide what college to go to. There were various factors that made this decision rather large for her, and she was having a very hard time. She prayed a lot about it, and even tried fasting, but still felt unsure. She then felt that she should seek a Priesthood blessing. There was a Brother in the ward who was a very good family friend, and who she respected as being very spiritual. She went to this friend and asked for a Priesthood blessing. He was happy to. During the course of the blessing this family friend suddenly changed direction. He began telling this young woman that she was to become his second wife, and that they would take some 'choice' people with them and leave to start their own religeous group. She felt a very strong feeling that she mistook for the Holy Ghost and ended up going with this man. I am not sure about the fate of this little group that the man started, but I am sure it didn't last long.

The second story I would like to share is a simple experience I had just the other night. I was talking on the phone with some members of my District who are rather new. The one is only about 5 months out, and the other is brand new. I have been called as their District Leader, and was talking with them after having collected the weekly numbers. I asked if they had any questions, and after a brief pause, they told me they couldn't think of anything. I then felt like I should ask further for some reason and more specifically asked if there was a part of the work they were having a hard time with. One of them then explained a piece of the work that they were struggling with, that they had seen another missionary do well while they were on exchanges. I felt prompted and was able to share my experiences with that missionary, and some principles in the work that might help them. They thanked me, and the call was pretty much over.

Ok. You may have already guessed what I am getting at here. There is a very important principle in the Gospel called Stewardship. The President of the Chruch has the Stewardship for the church, the Stake President for the Stake, the Bishop for the Ward, the father for the family, etc. When someone is given a calling to serve any group of people, such as Area Seventy, District Leader, or even Father to their children, they are given special help from God in which they can better serve these people. Special direction.

This poor young woman from the first story made a mistake in asking a family friend to help her receive council from God, when she could have turned to her father or home teachers or Bishop. In contrast, God used me to convey some direction to Missionaries I am serving, as the called leader. I am not trying to tell you I am better than the man who gave the blessing. That is not the point. The real difference is Stewardship. God gives us a pattern in all things. He gives us leadership that we can always turn to. He sends us people and routes through which we can receive guidance from Him. God loves you and He wants to help you. He will send you help as you turn to the sources He has sent you. Do not be deceived. The adversary would love for you to look ANYWEHRE but to God. The media, movie stars, palm readers, etc. Don't trust it. Look unto God's pattern. Look unto God's Word. He will not deceive you. He will not yank you around. He will not cloud your mind. He will give you help. Exaclty as you need it. Even if sometimes it doesn't seem like enough. Just trust Him. :) His love for you runs deeper than the sea and higher than the stars. I testify that you can trust His established patterns and Church.

Jacob 6:12 - O be wise; what can I say more? :)

And I say this in the Sacred Name of Jesus Christ, Amen. :)

Have a wonderful week! I wish you the best. God be with you. Stay in the Light. :)

- Elder Michael Miles

5-13-13

Hello everyone!

I hope you are all having a good week. I am for one. Hard, but good. The good kind of hard. The kind of hard that challenges you to climb higher. :)

German thing!

They say their numbers backwards for some reason. Any time they express a tens-place number (like sixty or twenty or ninety) they always express the ones-place number first. Very confusing:

63 - 'three and sixty' (dreiundsechzig)

29 - 'nine and twenty' (neunundzwanzig)

Strange. They even admit themselves that it makes no sense to switch them.

They also do not include spaces in numbers:

82,641 - 'twoandeightythousandsixhundredoneandfourty' (zweiundachtzigtausendsechhunderteinundvierzig)

Random experiences!

~(this is where you insert the paragraphs etc.)~

Spiritual part!

For the spiritual section, I would like to recommend something that I recently tried out that I heard from my old companion Elder Tolbert: writing a letter to God. I decided to try it out after a good evening where I felt I had learned quite a bit and wanted to talk to God and thank Him and solidify and understand what I had learned. I went to someplace quieter and began writing I expressed my thanks as best I could and began writing to Him. I went slowly, trying to ponder on what I wanted to say, and listening for what God was telling me. I even wrote down questions and then would stop and ponder and listen for the ideas and feelings that came. It was a very special experience. I received a lot of instruction and of course went to record these feelings and teachings (for spritual instruction not recorded is spiricual instruction lost, and one could even say disrespected).

I encourage you to try this. Make it something real. Take it seriously. It is just like a very concentrated, deliberate kind of prayer. It will be cool. :)

I wish you all a wonderful week. :) God be with you. Keep close to the Light you know. :)

- Elder Michael Miles

5-6-13

No time for blog again. But I have some stories you could use if they seem good:

We were up in an area doing doors this last week in a very nice area where very rich people must have lived. We also came across a couple houses where there was no name on the doorbell. We were pretty sure that it meant that the person did not want you to know who they were, as in they were super famous. It was interesting.

We were also talking to a guy who we meet with every Sunday who is very Catholic. We were talking about how we can become like God. He had a hard time accepting it. He kept talking about how satan (in Genesis) says to Eve 'you will not surely die [...] your eyes will be opened, and ye shall be AS GODS, knowing good and evil' (Gen. 3:4-5) and how that idea of becoming as gods was a direct lie from Satan, words of the adversary. We then talked about the scripture that comes up a bit later (verse 22) where God says: 'the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil'. God acknowledges that Adam and Eve had become like Him. He had -never- noticed that scripture before. He was left rather wordless. We also talked about how they had the command to have kids and could not fulfill it in the garden. He was then very pensive and told us he would have to read back over it and then we could talk again. It was interesting.