Video

If you would like to see Elder Miles in a music video that his district made, go to this link:

http://germanyberlinmission2012-15.blogspot.de/2013/12/german-advent-preparation-time.html

12-16-13

Oh, on that note, I have been needed for translating for the Americans in our Ward the last few weeks. It is so hard! I am sitting there, trying to listen to the speaker, not hearing everything they say, having to wait until the end of the sentances (some of which are -very-  run-on) before I hear the verb (which belongs at the end of the German sentance in most cases, but is needed for the beginning of the English sentances), and getting tangled up by the more complex and obscure words. Then as I understand one part, and begin translating it, trying to find the English equivlants, I have to put in large mental effort to keep paying attention to what is said, or I would only be able to convey every other idea to the listeners, switching between listening and translating... such a challenge... I would love to translate from German to English so much more... That way you understand everything that is said (in your native language, you understand most accents, mumbled or quickly said words are still easily understandable, and almost none of the words are new or undefined in your vocab), and then are able to express it with the words you know in the other language. Would be so much nicer...

The other day, the Sisters who work in our area talked to a man on the street. He expressed a surprising amount of interest to their brief intro of our message. They gave him a Book of Mormon in his native language, and invited him to Church, not sure what would come of it. (We do a lot of inviting to Church, and don't often see all of the peoople we invite actually at Church, and usually only after we have had some appointments with them and really had the chance to teach them.) This man, after his brief introduction, had begun reading in the Book of Mormon of his own initiative, and came to Church. We were happy to recieve him and will be meeting with him this week to start teaching him. :)

Our God is a God of miracles. :)

I wish you all a wonderful Christmas season, and a receptive mind for the wonderful focus and reminders we have during the CHRIST-mas time. :)

Another random thought I have been processing a lot this last week. I have been working on reacting to others as I would treat Jesus Christ. Especially under the context that He has to experience every way that I interact with others. I really am doing what I do not only to the individual, but also to Christ, He having experienced their lives in full during the Atonement. It has been helping me a lot to treat others better. (when I can remember it. :P ) I can recommend it. :)

God bless you and be with you. Stay in the Light, and let your good desires work in you. :)

Love you. :)

-Elder Miles

12-9-13

Hi everyone! Sorry about the post drought. :( I have some stuff this week though, just little snippets from other emails

I was astounded to find out what the actual rules for tea were in the Church when I came out here. I used to be completely unsure, and just kinda thought that all tea was against the word of wisdom. Turns out I was wrong. You just need to watch out for black, green, white,  and onlong teas. They are all made from the actual 'tea plant'. As far as my experience with tea, I have always heard very good things about Camomile and Peppermint teas. They are supposed to help with colds. Also, Camomile tea is also supposed to help with relaxation and stomach problems, and peppermint is supposed to also help with diareah and headaches. (these are all health tips from Sister Kosak (Mission President's wife)) I have also heard very good things about the anti-bacterial qualities of lemon juice and honey. Sometimes, I mix Camomile and Peppermint tea in one cup, and then put in honey and lemon juice. I keep changing the name of it, but I call it things like 'destructo tea, ulti-tea, tea of doom, etc.' I feel like it's helped with snipping a cold in the bud, and it actually tastes pretty good. :)

The German here sounds a little different, but not really. -shrug- Though there are little things. Like how in the South-East (Sachsen, Brandenburg, etc.) they say 'bissel' instead of 'bisschen', and here, as a greeting they say 'moin' or 'moin moin'. (I think that started out as a shortened version of 'guten morgen' shortened to 'morgen' shortened to 'moin', and then, in this area, they started using that as a general greeting, instead of just in the morning. Sometimes, in other areas of Germany, you will occasionally hear 'moin' as a form of 'good morning/guten morgen', but only ever when it's actually morning.)

Side note, I have been transfered to Hamburg, Altona Ward. It is great here. We even got some snow for a little before it melted the next day. :P 

God bless you. I challenge you all to let go of the 'flaxen cords' with which the adversary would bind you. The little things that would pull you away. You can always let go. You are free. Christ, through His Sacrifice, has made it possible. He loves us. Of these things I bear testimony, in the name of the Good Shepherd, even Jesus Christ, amen. :)

Have a great week! Love you all!

- Elder Michael Bright Miles

11-18-2013

Oh. Interesting thing. Because the Germans don't have the big holiday of Thanksgiving, and because they start celebrating Christmas with the 'Advents' (the 4 Sundays before Christmas), they start putting up decorations and stuff much earlier. This last week, the city has already started putting up some of the decorations on street lamps and stuff. Though none of it is lit. And a member told me that some Germans get very upset when you decorate and start turning on the lights before 'Toten Sonntag' (dead's Sunday/Sunday of the Dead). It is a sort of memorial day for them, where they visit graves and leave lots of flowers and stuff. It's a really big deal here. And there's some kind of superstition about how you shouldn't set up/turn all your Christmas lights before that day. It's supposedly disrespectful of the dead or they don't like all the lights or something... Odd. :P But the member house we're in right now is working on decorating as we speak, and has Christmas music playing. :)

1 - French Toast!

2 - A random little man-made pond/lake thing in Bagenz.

3 - Awesome view of a factory in a city called Peitz. It was dark, we were walking back to the train, and there was a little man-made lake right in front of it. I thought it looked super cool, so I took a picture. :)

4 - (Kinda out of order) Me cooking the french toast!

9-23-13

Study:

Lately we are reading the Book of Mormon together as a Mission, and focusing on the Atonement. As I was reading thorough I hit the vision of Nephi (Nephi 11-14?) and was very impressed by something. Almost every time that the Spirit of God in the vision referred to Christ, he said The Lamb of God. I checked and realized that there are only a small handful of other times in the Book of Mormon that Prophets refer to Christ by this title. But in those few chapters, the Spirit of God says is quite a lot. It made me wonder if that's just the title The Spirit normally uses or something... Was interesting. I was also impressed by the title itself. A title that really described the Atonement in a powerful way in just a couple words. 'The Lamb of God' The imagery we have when we think about his title is also supported quite nicely by the imagery and types and shadows that God showed to us in the Law of Moses. Christ is the offering of God. What God is giving up in order to save us. Giving His Son. Powerful concept. I liked it a lot. :)

Random other cool things:

We went to a baby amusement park last week called Teichland http://www.erlebnispark-teichland.de/. It was fun. Got to climb the tower, ride the little roller sled things a few times, and ride a little sky lift thing. Many of the other attractions were shut down because the weather is gettting colder, and quite a few of them we just didn't have the motivation or time to go on. Kinda wanted to play some mini-golf, but didn't have time.

Anna is getting baptised! We set a date for October 12th. We are super excited and so is she and so is Elder Thorkelson (who is now in Minden). We had a very powerful lesson where we got to ask her a lot. We talked about what she thinks of the Church and the Book of Mormon, what feelings she has been having, and how it has been changing her. She expressed how good it all felt, the good it was doing for her, how her faith was growing, and how she has been changing for good, becoming more aligned with God. We then were able to challenge her to Baptism, and she accepted. X)

I know that God is in this work. He is a God of Miracles, and He loves us. :) I testify of that in the Name of Jesus Christ, amen.

- Elder Michael Bright Miles

8-19-13

Hello everyone! I hope you're doing well. I'm doing pretty well. :)

Not a whole lot to say this week, but I can tack on a couple things at least. :)

Germany things:

They use a lot of graphed paper. Perhaps more than lined paper.

I'm used to only seeing alchohol as beer in gas stations, or tucked away in liquor stores (perhaps that is very different in other states in the US), but here they just have it sitting out all over the place in grocery stores, or any store really. Weird.

I can't seem to find any balogna.

They have oreos, but they aren't as good. :P

They have massive yogurt sections at the grocery store. Everything you can imagine mixed with yogurt. Also, they spell it jogurt because they pronounce the j as our y sound. (their y sounds like ü. don't worry about that one.)

Spiritual thing:

Mark 2:17 - When Jesus heard it, he saith unto them, They that are whole have no need of the physician, but they that are sick: I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.

The Gospel isn't for perfect people. It's for people still learning and progressing. It's also not for the unrepentant sinner either. We have to be working at striving at it. :)

Preach My Gospel pg. 6: "The purpose of the gospel is to cleanse people of their sins so they can receive the Savior’s mercy at the day of judgment."

You don't need to worry about beating yourself up for falling short of perfection after you strive. You don't need to compare yourself to other people. You just need to keep taking steps. Keep working.

“Sometimes courage is the quiet voice at the end of the day saying, 'I will try again tomorrow.' " - Thomas S. Monson

You can do it. :) Just keep improving. - 2 Ne. 28:30 - "For behold, thus saith the Lord God: I will give unto the children of men line upon line, ^aprecept upon precept, here a little and there a little ..."

Christ has your back. You can do it, with Him. :)

2 Ne. 25:23 - "... for we know that it is by grace that we are saved, after all we can do."

Trust in the Savior who loves you with all His Godly Heart. :) I testify in His Name that He will support you and help you to progress. Isaiah 41:10 - "Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness."

I say these things in the Sacred Name of Jesus Christ, Amen. :)

Have a wonderful week. :) Go do something fulfilling. :)

- Elder Michael Bright Miles

8-1-13

Ooh. Got to use a scythe a few days ago. Some Germans still have them from when their families used to use them for farm work. They look totally legit and homemade. Now they just use them for when their grass gets really tall. They trim it down with the scythe before hitting it with the lawn mower. We helped a lady with her lawn and got to use one to trim it before we mowed it. It was fun. :)

Things are going well. :)

Spiritual something:

Alma 8:9-13 - Life can get discouraging. Sometimes people around us are making bad choices despite our best efforts, sometimes we fall short, sometimes things just don't turn out the way we want it to, despite everything we do. And sometimes we feel like we have failed God. Missionaries run into this problem a lot. Often we feel like we are giving our best, and yet we are not seeing the results we expected. We become discouraged. Let's read further.

verses 14&15 - This is a powerful principle. One might think that Alma had just 'failed' in the city of Ammonihah, and yet this angel is telling him 'blessed art thou, Alma; therefore, lift up thy head and rejoice, for thou hast great cause to rejoice'. And why? 'for thou hast been faithful in keeping the commandments of God'. That is success. Alma was successful because he was obedient. Because he was striving. I testify that God loves us and sends us exactly what we need. I testify that true success and happiness comes not from our circumstances or from things around us, but from us. When we are striving and being obedient and following God, then we are donig what is expected of us, and we can be assured. I testify that Jesus Christ lives and that He has shown us the way. He helps us at every step. He asks us to keep stepping forward. We can do it. :) I say these things in the sacred name of Jesus Christ, amen.

7-29-13

Hello everyone! I haven't written forever and I am sorry about that. We have been having some crazy preperation days where we were always really pressed for time. Some days I didn't even have time to email my Mom. X/

Things are going wonderfully well here in Forst. Let me tell you about a miracle we experienced in the last 9 days:

Saturday the 10th. We were on a train coming back from an exchange we had just had, and talking about how it had been. There was a young woman sitting across from us. The sun was glaring in her eyes quite badly, so my great companion decided to offer her to switch seats. She quickly declined the offer, jumping without pause into asking us with overflowing curiosity about who we are, she had heard us speaking English (she hadn't heard any German from us until my companion said something to her) and looking at our nametags. We explained who we were and quickly found an opportunity to begin talking to her about God, and then the Book of Mormon. She didn't have much of a religious background at all, but found what we said interesting, and was also fascinated to be talking to two Americans. :P

Suddenly, her stop had come, and we were scrambling to get out a Book of Mormon, and our card. We realized that neither of us had a card with our information on it and began to panick, the train was stopping. We whipped out a blank card and scribbled our number on it as fast as we could. My companion handed it to her and told her to call us. She said ok, a little timidly, and got off the train.

That's when I realized that the Book of Mormon was still in my hands. X/ (facepalm)

We were kinda disappointed. People that you just give a card to hardly ever just call. She did wait for the train to drive off and waved as we left though. That was nice of her.

Two days later we are sitting in Görlitz, waiting for the rest of the District to get there for an activity we were going to do together, when suddenly, we get a call from an unknown number. We were a little confused, and I picked up the phone. "Hallo, hier ist der Elder Miles von der Kirche Jesu Christi." (Hello, here is Elder Miles from the Church of Jesus Christ) "Hallo, hier ist die Anna." (Hello, here is Anna.) I moved the phone quickly away from my mouth for a moment, "Elder! It's Anna!"

We talked for a bit about meeting again and what we could do. There was a youth camp going on that week in Forst, and we invited her to come have lunch with us there. It was a bit far for her, but she agreed. We hoped to get some opportunity to teach her after we ate.

The day came, we picked her up from the train station, and had a pleasant walk and talk until we got to the camp. The moment we got there she was swept right up by a leader, who got her some food and set her down with some of the young women. (Anna is 17) We went to sit down and eat some food as well, not really knowing what else to do with ourselves. Our new investigator had just been stolen away. After a while she walked back over to where we were. She remarked on how kind and open everyone was. :) She told us that the young women had invited her to stay and do some river rafting with them. (they were gonna do river rafting on the Neiße, the river between Germany and Poland) She wanted to go, and we encouraged her. We came back later that evening to see how she was doing. She was doing great and really enjoying herself. We then had an opportunity for We then had an opportunity for a wonderful lesson about the Restoration of the Church. It went great. We talked a little more after, and she let us know that she was enjoying it so much she wanted to ~stay overnight~! She hadn't even really brought anything with her. X)

Well she ends up reading some in the Book of Mormon that night and we talk to her a little the next day before she goes home. I think she would have stayed longer, but hadn't brought enough stuff with her.

We then invited her to come to Church, and also to a Baptism that was going to be happening for a newly-8-member's-daughter. We were very excited for her, because we knew that there is a very special spirit at Baptisms. She agreed to come. We got it all set up to where she would get picked up, come with us to our member appointment, and then stay for the Baptism.

Sunday then went swimmingly. We had good meetings, she was taken in really well by the young women in the ward, and she found it all very "interesting". Then we had some opportunity to begin talking about the Plan of Salvation while at the members house for lunch before the Baptism, and then came the Baptism. That was beautiful. They even decided to give this girl the Gift of the Holy Ghost immediately after, so we had a plethora of teaching opportunities, telling her all about what was going on. After the Baptism was over, while they prepared the refreshments, we then had some more time to sit down with her and a young woman from the ward in order to finish talking about the Plan of Salvation, and talk a little about how to get more from the scriptures. (she had already read 40-ish pages on her own, which is a lot) We were able to bear powerful testimony that God is our Heavenly Father, and that He loves us. We taught about the Holy Spirit and the Word of God. We asked her, "Was würde es dir bedeuten wenn dieser Plan wahr wäre?" (What would it mean to you, if this plan were true?) She thought for a moment and responded with words from the heart, 'Well, I want to get to the sun one (Celestial Kingdom). I would really try to do everything I could. I know I have already lost some years...' This was powerful. She was recognizing how significant the message was. How important it is. She was feeling the urgency. We assured her that it is not too late. We continued talking. We talked a bit more about how she needs to read and pray to find out for herself if God is there, and if the plan is true. We asked her about how she has been feeling while she has been meeting with us, etc. She paused a bit, trying to collect her words, and then began describing a strange, almost pressing feeling that she had felt during the Baptism. We began grinning. :) We then bore powerful testimony to her that she had felt the Holy Ghost testifying of what was happening. This made her smile, and she even looked like she felt accomplished for having felt it. :) We then asked her "Wenn du weißt dass diese Dinge wahr sind, wirst du dich Taufen lassen von jemandem der die Priestertumsvollmacht hat..." (When you know that these things are true, will you get baptised from someone holding the Priesthood Authority...) Before I could even finish the question she was nodding with a big smile on her face.

I testify that God is in this work. I testify that he knows and loves His children. I testify that I have felt no greater joy than the kind of joy I felt as I was able to tell this young woman the truth, to tell her about her Loving Heavenly Father, to help her see the eternities. I testify that this Church is the true Church of God, the Church of Jesus Christ restored upon the earth through a Prophet, Joseph Smith, called of God. I reiterate, God - Loves - You.

I testify of these things in the name of our Lord, in the Name of Jesus Christ, amen.

Have a wonderful week everyone. :) God be with you.

- Elder Michael Bright Miles

7-7-13

Blog again!

Sorry I haven't written for so long. We have to take a train out to do emails in another city because our little city doesn't have any internet cafes. (Ok, we have one, but it's super sketchy looking and has smoking paraphernalia in the front window.)

Things are going well in Forst. The ward is cooler and cooler the more we get to know them. They are also the largest ward I have ever been in, even though the city is the smallest I've ever been in. :P Very nice members who are strong in the Gospel.

Also having a great time with Elder Thorkelson. I'll upload some pictures. :)

Cool success story! We were in line at the grocery store one day, and a guy in front of us was kinda trying to catch a good look at our nametages. All the sudden he asked us what we were selling. This caught me off-guard, so I didn't process what he said right away. (He also had a heavy accent.) He asked if we were selling anything nice, we told him that we are missionaries. He asked what that means. We told him that we talk to people about God/Jesus Christ/etc, and the Book of Mormon. We then shortly introduced the Book of Mormon, that we give it to people as a gift, and that we invite people to read it and pray about it to see if it is from God. (handing him a Book of Mormon) he seemed confused for a bit that we were just handing him a book, 'Did I just get gifted a book?' 'Yes.' He then happily took it and said he would read in it. It was a powerful moment to us as we realized that God puts people in our path. :)

God knows His plan. You can trust Him. He loves you. :)

I hope you all have a wonderful week. Go do cool things!

- Elder Michael Bright Miles

7-1-13

 1. Somebody slashed my tire while the bike was at the train station. Not the outside rubber rim of the tire, just the inside tube. I think they hoped that they could steal the bike later in the night if I left it there to fix it in the morning. (We don't take our bikes to the train station anymore. We're close enough to walk anyway. :P)

 2. Delicious oreos!!

Biking!

'declared in -every- ear'

The forest on the edge of town. The street just kinda ended in forest. :P

Birthday Cake prep

Cake baked

Cake double-layered

Cake done

Birthday Cake delicious X)

6-10-13

I am getting transfered! Surprise! (6-10-13)

I am going to a place called Forst. It is to the right of Cottbus (Cottbus is south,southeast of Berlin, north of Dresden). I'm gonna be right on the Polish border. :P I will also be serving with my favorite Missionary, best Mission friend Elder Thorkleson. I am so very excited. X) (try searching for him on the current mission blog and on the old one, should be able to find pics (old one:http://germanyberlinmission.blogspot.de/)) We are whitewashing in. That means we have both never been there before. We are stoked.

Whitewashing doesn't happen all that often. Forst is really pretty. :) Small and nice, and the ward is really big for Germany, and for how small the town is. I haven't noticed a pollish accent at all, but they have a bit of a Sechsisch accent here. Not too bad though. (About the same as in/as bad as Köthen, but with a bit less influence from the Berlin area.

The ward is wonderful. They are very good to us, good about joint teaches, and all very active, strong members. When they found out that my birthday was coming up, a family approached us and told us that we now had an appointment with them that evening. :P Was funny. Excited for that. And to bake my cake that day. :)

Elder Thorkelson and I are both rather musical, so we are planning on doing some musicl numbers together for the ward and for missionary meetings.

Oh! There is a senior couple in our District that keep a blog: thegorlitzdistrict.blogspot.com.  Görlitz is the name of the city where the couple is serving, and where the District Leader is. We have district meetings at the couple's house. Because the District Leader is in Görlitz, we call the District: District Görlitz. The couple's name is Bauman.

I used to go to bakeries more in Berlin. I love getting the simple jelly-filled doughnuts (often called Berliners) and another pastry that is wide and flat and dense and has crumbs and drizzled glaze on the top. :)

Those really are their staples. Bread, meat, cheese. They don't eat it for every meal, but it is a common thing. And they have enough variety in those categories, that it doesn't get boring. :) It's kinda like how often we eat sandwiches for lunch. They do bread meat and cheese, and eat it for dinner.

 

6-17-13

Michael was not able to write a blog post this week. But he loves you all, and loves the work!
-Andrew Miles

5-27-13

Michael had to be quick this week, but he has a spiritual thought to share real quick,

Firstly - D&C 121:1 / Matt 27:46

Often it feels as though God has forsaken us or forgotten us somehow. Often we feel overwhelmed and as though we somehow have drifted far from God, and know not where to find Him. I think we all know this feeling. But let's look at a couple more scriptures:

1 Ne. 21:14-16 (Isa. 49:14-16) / Matt 10:29-31

God promises us that he has not forgotten us. That He thinks about us. That we are important to Him.

And lastly - D&C 24:8 / Isa 41:10

God is always with us. Sometimes we don't feel it, but we have His ~promise~ that He is there. Just press forward in faith. Fear not. He loves you and will ~never~ forsake you.

6-3-13

Hi everyone! Gotta be quick, but I have some stuff ready. :)

Germany stuff! (brought to you by the clever asking of Danny)

- Lots of bakeries. Just little cafes where you can go in and buy nice breads and pastries and rolls and stuff and they usually have coffee there as well.
- There also is more support from the Government for little stores that specify in one kind of product (big chains with a little of everything, like wal-mart, being discouraged and given less help(there are no wal-marts in Germany that I know of)).
- Fast food is also a lot more expensive here. At Subway for example, they kinda do the 5-dollar foot-long thing, but it's not as wide, like it's only at specific times or for very speicific sandwiches, and they do it in Euros (5 Euro foot-long). If you look, at the exchange rate, it turns out to be a much sadder deal than in the states.
- People eat a big lunch, it being the real big meal, and then usually eat 'Abendbrot' (eveningbread) where they just have rolls and other bread where you take a slice and put on some cheese and meat and eat it. Big full time jobs often give big long lunch breaks so people can go home or go out to eat and have a good big lunch.

Spiritual stuff! I want to share with you an experience that I had with an investigator the other day. :)

Had an awesome appointment the other day! We are meeting with an older gentleman who is a strong Christian (Catholic) who has been meeting with the missionaries for a while now. (1-2 years) He has a strong testimony of Christ and a good knowledge of the scriptures and the Catholic Church. He is very kind and admirably humble. He even says that he probably would have already joined our chruch if it weren't for his strong Catholic roots. Awesome guy. In any case, we had a great joint teach (Br. Glück) who was really open and friendly with him, helped us review the Restoration of the Gospel with us really powerfully and got him thinking, asking him to think about what questions he has in life that we could discuss. We then visited him during the week shortly, shared Amos 3:7 with him "Surely the Lord God will do nothing, but he revealeth his secret unto his servants the prophets." and emphasized how the scriptures (the words of God through the Prophets) can truly help him with his questions and concerns. He seemed to really feel the idea and said he would think about his questions. When we met with him yesterday we were really able to talk to him, he opened up and told us about how he has been having troubles since his wife died 15 years ago and doesn't feel like he is getting answers to what he is praying about. Expressed a fear that he had done something horribly wrong, or is doing something horribly wrong for which God is punishing him, or something like that. We were able to tell him very powerfully about how God loves him and cares about him and wants to help him. We promised him that God is listening (he didn't really doubt that God listened, just felt like God wasn't really doing anything about his prayers) and we were able to just perfectly share Alma 7:11-13 (http://www.lds.org/scriptures/bofm/alma/7?lang=eng) and  Matthew 7:7-11 (http://www.lds.org/scriptures/nt/matt/7?lang=eng)

. We told him that Christ wants to help him and is answering his prayers, even if he doesn't see how they are being answered. He looked like he was getting choked up here and there and bore huge grattitude for what we had shared. He said we were freeing him of a burden he had been carrying for 15 years and that he had hope again. It was wonderful and I felt the Spirit very strongly. Even got choked up a bit as I was reading those scriptures to him and testifying to him. :P He also then told me that I was going to make a great therapist one day. :P That was fun. In any case, it was a wonderful appointment. Hope you enjoyed the story. :)

I want to bear testimony that following in the footsteps in Christ, partaking of this wonderful Truth and Joy of the Gospel, and then even more so, the abolute Joy of partaking of it with others is the most wonderful feeling I have ever felt. I have a testimony that it is the most wonderful feeling a man can have. (1 Ne. 8:12/1 Ne. 11:22) (http://www.lds.org/scriptures/bofm/1-ne/8?lang=eng - http://www.lds.org/scriptures/bofm/1-ne/11?lang=eng) God loves you so much. He listens to you. I testify of these things in the name of the Shepherd, Jesus Christ, amen. :)

Go have an awesome week! Don't forget to smile. :)

- Elder Michael Bright Miles

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.

4-29-13

Michael didn't have enough time this week to write a blog post, he says, "Sorry!"

Thanks for reading!

-Micheal's loving brother.

4-22-13

Hello everyone! :) I hope you are all doing well and don't feel too bogged down.

Things are going well over here. The plants are starting to throw out green leaves again, and weeds and flowers alike are popping up everywhere. The weather is a little cooler, staying about jacket weather for now, but keeps getting warmer.

The work is going well. We are finally getting appointments with a couple different less-active families who we have been wanting to work with, are seeing wonderful little changes in one of our investigators named Urgen where he wants to make changes and renovate his appartment and stop smoking, and also may have just found a cool new investigator. We'll see how that goes this evening if he's home.

Random German thing(s):

Trains. Trains everywhere. I guess that might be a little more common in some other states, but in Utah I saw hardly any. Every now and again we would see a cargo train go rumbling by, but tracks were few and far between, and the trains were rare. Here, trains is one of the main forms of travel. There is an intense train system run by a company called 'Deutsche Bahn' (German Train(s)). This system can get you to most of the cities in Germany. (The only villages it can't get you to are the little ones built off to the side, that they don't want to spend the money to connect with.) The system really is asounding though. Ridiculous to think of how much logistics must come into managing it. Along side these trains, there are many busses and trams/street cars run by larger cities. The bigger, busier cities even often have subways. (These are simply street cars on underground tracks, and some of these overlap, going below ground for the thick, busy part of the city, only to resurface a ways later when things thin out.) These trams also share the road with cars in some cities and areas, the tracks being flush with the road so that cars drive without being bothered at all.

There are also a lot of bikes used here, a lot of bike paths, traffic lights next to the pedestrian 'walk'/'don't walk' lights that tell bikes when to go, and when not to go. Lots of bike shops and repair shops. Etc.

Spiritual Thought:

I actually had a couple things to share today.

Maybe this is just me, but it seems like I often come to little things I can do that really help me. Little mental tricks or perspectives or helps or ideas that really help me to be closer to God in one way or another. It seems like I am always forgetting to continue applying these little tricks and ideas, and end up stumbling upon them later, and they begin to help me a lot again. Now, my advice to you on this subject, is to recognize these little things that build you up and take more note of them. Keep good hold on them. If you stumble across one that you seem to have forgotten, take special note of it. Satan loves to help you forget, and God loves to help us remember and grow. :)

--

Here is a little spiritual thought I shared with a member family just the other day:

First let's look at some words from Nephi, as he describes the journey they took through the wilderness:

1 Ne. 17:1-2:

1 And it came to pass that we did again take our journey in the wilderness; and we did travel nearly eastward from that time forth. And we did travel and wade through much affliction in the wilderness; and our women did bear children in the wilderness.
2 And so great were the blessings of the Lord upon us, that while we did live upon raw meat in the wilderness, our women did give plenty of suck for their children, and were strong, yea, even like unto the men; and they began to bear their journeyings without murmurings.

'great were the blessings of the Lord', the children were taken care of, the raw meet was made sweet, they all became strong, sounds like a challenging, but good experience. Now let's look at the same journey, as described by Nephi's brothers later in the chapter.

verse 20

20 And thou art like unto our father, led away by the foolish imaginations of his heart; yea, he hath led us out of the land of Jerusalem, and we have wandered in the wilderness for these many years; and our women have toiled, being big with child; and they have borne children in the wilderness and suffered all things, save it were death; and it would have been better that they had died before they came out of Jerusalem than to have suffered these afflictions.

Wow. One massive complaint.

They were talking about the same journey. They even touched on the same subject matter in the journey, and yet as Nephi described the blessings and good that came of it, all that Laman and Lemuel had to say about it was how horrible it was.

What made the difference?

Perspective.

They were talking about the same stuff, but because the one was in a good state of mind, trying to follow God, and looking for God's hand in his life, he was happy, and saw goodness and blessings coming, even in the middle of and -from- hard trials. The brothers on the other hand, poor blokes, were struggling and could only see the hard things. They were looking for faults and negativity. They were unhappy, unsatisfied, regretful, etc. This was not just a difference between people. This example does not mean that Laman and Lemuel are incapable of being happy/positive, or that Nephi was imune to discouragement/negativity. Quite the opposite. We all have the capacity to look at our surroundings and life in whatever light we choose. Do we notice the Hand and Blessings of God? He is there. 'His arms are stretched out still'. You can be happy. He wants you to be happy. Life itself is not, in and of itself, happy or sad. -We- are the ones that are either happy or sad. Which would you rather be? :)

I testify that God has love for us that runs deeper than the sea, and higher than the stars. I testify that He wants nothing less than for us to really be happy and grow and progress. He wants true joy for us. I testify that you can find joy in your life. This is not a case to case concept. This is truth. God is there. Happiness -can- be found. God can reach you no matter where you are. And I testify of these things in the name of the Son, Jesus Christ, Amen.

Have a great, and spiritual week. And maybe let yourself smile about something extra this week. :)

- Elder Michael Miles

4-15-13

Hello Blog-readers near and far!

Hope you are all doing well. :) Things are going pretty well here. Found a cool guy that is possibly from Africa, and are getting some good work set up with some less-active families. Also! The weather finally warmed up! We are enjoying warm weather finally! Yesterday we walked to an appointment with just our suit jackets on and were sweating a bit, and today we are walking around in t-shirts. Wonderous.

Random German thing!

They have lots of McDonalds and Burger Kings here, as well as a Pizza Hut here and there (none of them truly taste like the ones back home, but it is similar). They do not, however have Wal-Mart, and the similar stores are not nearly so well set up, and usually have a much smaller selection than you would find at someplace like Wal-Mart. Apparently the government tends to favor (taxes-wise) the smaller companies that focus on one genre of products. Then the bigger companies have to pay heavier taxes. Interesting system. Makes it a bit harder to do one-trip grocery shopping, but it works out.

There is also lots of candy from the States here. And most of it tastes rather the same. Snickers, Skittles (they look like the red-bag kind, but have different flavors), gum, M&Ms, etc. Funny thing though, the Milky Way bar here is like the 3 Musketeers that we have back in the States, and the Mars Bars are like our Milky Ways.

Along these same lines of Americanizing, there are -lots- of American influences over here in general. Very good examples are found in the German language. They simply adopt a lot of Enlish words: 'Remake', 'Management', 'cool', etc. (Though they all struggle a LOT with the 'th' sound, and our 'r' sound.) They also wear t-shirts from colleges in the States (and often have no idea what they mean) listen to more American music than German (probably not understanding half of it) and all are required to take English as a foreign language starting at something like 5th grade.

Spiritual Thought!

I have been thinking a lot about the idea of 'standing where your feet are'. Working where you are and not concerning yourself too much with hypothetical situations or with comparing yourself to others. Starting where you are. Not stressing over how little or how much progress you have made.

Elder Holland said something very good in this last General Conference:

"I would say to all who wish for more faith, remember this man! In moments of fear or doubt or troubling times, hold the ground you have already won, even if that ground is limited. In the growth we all have to experience in mortality, the spiritual equivalent of this boy’s affliction or this parent’s desperation is going to come to all of us. When those moments come and issues surface, the resolution of which is not immediately forthcoming, hold fast to what you already know and stand strong until additional knowledge comes. It was of this very incident, this specific miracle, that Jesus said, “If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you.” The size of your faith or the degree of your knowledge is not the issue—it is the integrity you demonstrate toward the faith you do have and the truth you already know."

I loved this idea. This concept of recognizing and appreciating what we have, and holding fast to it. We can only work where we are. We can only make progress up the hill from where we stand. Don't stress it too much. I testify that God does not expect us to suddenly be perfect, or even to attain perfection in this life. It is a direction. The only true direction. But life is a journey, not a destination. Focus on what is before you. Keep taking steps forward. You got this. :) God loves you and will help you progress as far as you let Him. And I close these remarks in the name of our Great Healer and Shepherd, Jesus Christ, amen.

- Elder Michael Miles

4-8-13

Hello blog readers! Hope you are all doing well, and that you got good things out of Conference. :)

We had a really good Conference. We got to watch the Saturday morning session live at 6-8(pm) and then on sunday we watched Priesthood session (11-1) Saturday afternoon (2-4) and Sunday morning (6-8). We still have not seen the Sunday afternoon. We plan to pull that off the church website and watch it at home at some point. :) (To watch the afternoon sessions live, it would have been 10-12 at night and Priesthood would have been 2-4 am. :P )

The ward was going to watch a lot of it together in the Church, but on Saturday when they went to watch the live session, they were having technical problems with it not coming in smooth and catching a lot, so they all went home. Elder Myrabo and I had already gotten ourselves set up in a sepparate room with a computer running it in English. (We probably could have understood pretty much all of it, but Conference was too important for us to risk not knowing the words the translator uses. And you can get more meaning out of it in your native language.) The members let us know that they were leaving, and we had the church to ourselves. On the following day, the ward decided not to even try anymore with watching it at the church and we were pretty much in the church all day by ourselves watching Conference. It was nice. We had desks to write on, and to strew our snacks across. :P

Random Germany Thing(s):

They have entire stores dedicated to meat. Little shops where you go in and pick out a meat, specify an amount (in grams), they weigh it out, and you buy it.

The cities here were originally designed long ago before the use of cars, and so most cities have a 'market place'. This space was probably orignially used as town square and an actual market place. Now-a-days these spaces have been converted into a wide road with no cars where one can walk along. The sides are lined with shops, and there are often little stands set up here and there, and street performers and such. There are sometimes even entire streets in the main part of the city that are used as areas like this. Paved with cobble-stone and not driven on by cars, but reserved for pedestrians.

Spiritual Things:

This week, I would like to encrouage you to do something. As I was sitting thinking last night, I realized that as much as I loved Conference, and had taken plentious notes, and recognized some themes that stuck out to me, I coudln't name many specific things I had learned. I then determined that later I am going to sit down, go over my notes, and possibly the talks again, and really define what I learned from it, how it touched me, what God was really saying directly to me in the Words. The preaching is all good and fine, but unless we pull out the meaning and apply it, what good does it do us in the long run? I encourage you all to pick up this wonderful resource we have and really search the good out of it. :)

I also bear testimony of our Church Leadership. I know that they are called of God and functioning in a God-given manner in a God-given Organization. I know that God choses His people carefully, and that we can trust them (anyone with stewardship over us) as long as they are living up to their covenants. I testify that Thomas S. Monson is God's Prophet on the earth today, and that when he speaks to us at General Conference, it is not simply his own ideas and observations, but inspired words through with God can truly speak to us. It is living scripture. And I testify of these things in the Sacred name of Jesus Christ amen. :)

Love you guys! Keep standing up for what you know is right! :) Have a wonderful week.

- Elder Michael Miles

4-2-13

Hello all! Not much time today.

Random German Thing!

The cops don't really pull people over. They are more dispatched to deal with problems that happen, or to pull people over that are causing serious problems. Speeders instead get caught in specific spots by little boxes on the side of the road that take your picture. You could go cruising past a cop at pretty darn high speeds, and as long as you aren't going maniac dangerous fast, they won't do anything. Most of these boxes are little permanent instalations, and the people in the area just learn where they are, or watch for the people in front of them slowing down. Though sometimes the cops will set up a portable one. Funny. In any case, the speed limit isn't enforced much at all. And the roads are tiny. All just based on the little cart trails and stuff I guess. I hear that many of the large roads they have now were really only made possible because the war destroyed everything, and they were able to build everything back up with the wider roads planned in.

Spiritual Thought!

We just had Easter Sunday, and I loved it. We heard much about the Atonement and the Resurection. It made for wonderful meetings.

I testify that Jesus is the Christ. The Savior. The Way. The Great Shepherd. The Living Water. I testify that He loves you and would have suffered all the same things and still done the Atonement, even if it was just going to be for you. Even if you were the only one that were going to be saved from it. I testify that His great Love is what truly motivated and enabled Him to 'overcome the world' for our sakes. I testify that He has prepared a way. I testify that He will always help you and be lovingly at your side as you work to make progress in life. He cares. He is there. He has not given up on you. He never will. You will see Him again, and He will be so happy to greet you and talk with you. Trust Him. Let Him in. I testify and promise these things as I have felt them from the Holy Spirit, and testify in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

I encourage you all to feel and give a little more love this week. :) God be with you.

- Elder Michael Bright Miles

3-25-13

Hey everybody!

Hope you are all doing well. :) This week has been VERY cold. We are getting a bitter cold wind coming down in from Russia that is keeping things around freezing temperature all the time, and of course it feels like below freezing because of the biting wind that sucks the warmth straight out of you, even though layers of clothes. X/ Nothing can stop the work though, and we missionaries are stubborn. :P

We actually are seeing the startings of great things with one of our investigators. He has been meeting with the missionaries for years, and is rather close to being ready to be baptised, and has been for a long time, but one of his huge roadblocks is smoking, and now we have challenged him to overcome it, and he seems very determined to do so. We are very excited for him. :)

Random thing about Germany!

The shopping carts have a little contraption on the side of the handlebar with a little metal key-like thing hanging on a chain. As the carts are sitting all slid into each other, each cart's contraption has the key of the cart in front of it locked in. To free the cart at the front, you have to place in a coin of either 50 cents, 1 euro, or 2 euro (yes, the have 1 and 2 euro coins. they have 1 cent, 2 cent, 5 cent, 10 cent, 20 cent, 50 cent, 1 euro and 2 euro pieces) into a slot. As the coin is inserted, it releases it's hold on the key of the cart in front of it, and you are free to take it. Then when you take it back, you have to slide it into the row of carts and stick the hanging key of the cart that used to be the end one into the contraption for it to give you your coin back. (you should be able to find pictures online)

Spiritual thought!

You can trust in God's promises, and in His Plan. He has it all ready and set up for us. We are safe in His hands, as long as we stay in His hands. He makes us beautiful promises all through the scriptures, and continually though His prophets. Take advantage of the blessings that God is all so willing to give you. Do not fear, for you have a God on your side. :) And I testify of this in the name of our Shepherd, Jesus Christ, amen.

May you all have a wonderful week with the Spirit continually near. God be with you.

- Elder Michael Miles

3-17-13

Greetings! Happy St. Patricks Day! ... A day late! ... I had actually forgotten, but I did happen to wear a green/white tie that day. Turned out well. :) Hope you guys are all doing well.

Been meeting with a Catholic guy. Very interesting. Haven't gotten much chance to learn about other religions until my misson. Fascinating stuff. Wonderful to see what people are doing with what light they have. How much they are putting towards their God. :)

Today's spiritual thought comes from John 7:24 and Matt 7:2

"Judge not according to the appearance, but judge righteous judgement."

"For with what judgement ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye meet, it shall be measured to you again."

There are many wonderful people on this earth trying very hard to do good things. However, sometimes these good things are not so visible. It is much easier to notice spatters of dirt on a white wall than it is to notice the blank white spaces.

Every man will be judged according to that which he understands, and according to his weakness. When someone does not completely understand a law or what they should be doing, how can we condemn them when they do not? Similarly, when someone is weak in some point, and it is harder for them to overcome a specific thing, how can we truly blame them when they fall short?

I once had a thought as I was walking around doing doors. I realized that I am struggling and make mistakes and am weak as the next guy. I am no exception to imperfection. I started to realize that sometimes as people we decide that we don't like someone because they are doing something wrong that we don't think they should be doing. Sometimes we have become strong in something, and, when we are not careful, begin to be intolerant to those who, though working on it, have not yet overcome the same struggle.

I testify that God loves each and every one of His children. I testify that we are given weaknesses that we may be tried and grow. God sends us hard times to lift us higher. We have to work our muscles to climb a mountain, it is not easy. We must strain ourselves spiritually, continually improving and learning as we move up towards God. :) Those who are falling short are sometimes seen as bad. Looked down upon. I submit that any man who you see climbing the mountain near you, even if they are falling short and not making as much progress, deserve help, encouragement, and love. Not condemnation or belittlement.

Luke 5:31-32

31 And Jesus answering said unto them, They that are whole need not a physician; but they that are sick.

32 I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.

When you see a fellowman struggling, help him up. :) Show love. Try to assume good about someone. It is true that some are choosing evil on purpose, but who are we to say? How would we know? Everyone has reasons for what they do. Hate the sin, but love the sinner. Try to help him. You have the light. Share it. :)

I know that each of us has the Love of God in us. We are capable of bringing about great good in those around us. I also testify that God loves us. Loves -you-. Let us continue to develop our love for Him, and for each other. You will be happier.

And I say these things in the name of the Lord, Jesus Christ, Amen.

I wish you guys a wonderful week. I challenge you to do something cool. :) Love you guys. God bless you.

- Elder Michael Miles