12-17-12

Pic 1. Classic German church here in Magdeburg, a neighboring area where we happen to be for P-Day. :)

Pic 2. My companion (Elder Beck) and I.

Pic 3. Oh my goodness all the candy I got!

Pic 4. Snow! :D

Pic 5. Captain Underpants in German! XD So funny to see.

Pic 6. Us at the temple.

Pic 7. The church where Martin Luther tacked up his thesis. It's in my area actually. (Not the real door, the church has burned down and been renovated and whatnot.)

Pic 8. It was pretty foggy, and then got below freezing, so the fog froze all over the cobwebs. It looked so weird. The spiderwebs look jeweled almost.

Hello everyone!

Had plenty of snow last few weeks. That was wonderful. :) It has kinda
been melting now these last few days. Ah well. :)

Had a wonderful Christmas Ward Choir concert yesterday (Sunday). The
ward was wonderful about inviting everyone and their dog, so there were
loads of people there. (I am pretty sure that most of them were not
members.) We sang quite a few Christmas songs, and ended with the song
'I Believe in Christ'. (In German of course) It was wonderful. We got to
spend the entire concert testifying of Christ and rejoicing in the
Christmas season.

I would ask you all to take a look at the word: Christmas. You guys are
hearing this word all over the place these days. Wonderful to see how
God is so sneaky about His reminders and helps. I would encourage you
all to let the very name of Christ in the word Christmas to remind you
of Him. He loves you, and He loves hearing from you. Don't forget to
pray. :)

Have a wonderful Christmas everyone! I don't know if my next post will
get to you before then, so I will just wish you that now. :) Stay close
to Christ. God be will you.

- Elder Michael Miles

12-10-12

Hello everyone. :)

This week has been a very good week. We have actually seen a lot happen.
We went to do some doors in student housing and talk to loads of people.
We gave at least 4 door lessons, made out at least 10 new appointments,
and have already seen 2 promising new investigators out of it. After
some time struggling, this has been a huge tender mercy for me. I know
that God prepares his work for his prepared workers, and prepares a way.
:)

Scripture! 1st Ne. 14:14

 14 And it came to pass that I, Nephi, beheld the power of the Lamb of
God, that it descended upon the saints of the church of the Lamb, and
upon the covenant people of the Lord, who were scattered upon all the
face of the earth; and they were armed with righteousness and with the
power of God in great glory.

First of all, Righteousness must come first, before the power of God.
We enable ourselves to be supported by God, when we follow Him and
strive to do what we can. :)

Secondly, -He- arms -us- with righteousness. I think most of us have
heard the idea that Faith is a gift from God. As we do what we can and
ask Him for Faith, and show and exercize what faith we have, God blesses
us and helps our Faith to grow. I think this is speaking to the same
concept. As we do what we can, God blesses us with everything we need.
God helps us to be righteous as we try to be righteous He loves us. He
helps us. He watches out for us. Don't forget Him. Don't think that you
can move forward with the Faith and Righteousness that you already have
(and only have because of Him) and go without relying on Him anymore, or
without keeping in contact with Him.

Keep in contact with God. Go forward in Him. He will make your pathway
bright.

God be with you. Keep close to the Sheepherd. Go have a great week. :)

- Elder Michael Miles

12-3-12

Hello everyone. :) I hope this blog post finds you well. :)

I'm gonna get straight to the spiritual thought this week. :)

Alma 5:26 - And now behold, I say unto you, my brethren, if ye have
experienced a change of heart, and if ye have felt to sing the song of
redeeming love, I would ask, can ye feel so now?

I love that phrase. 'The Song of Redeeming Love'. It causes me to
reflect on the Love that enabled Christ to Redeem us. It causes me to
relfect on the beautiful feelings of the Spirit that, when I think about
it, could be described rather well as wonderous music.

Can ye feel so now? Think back on some of the wonderful moments where
you have felt the Spirit. Where you have felt Christ soften your heart.
Where you have felt his tender love. Don't forget these moments. When
you are feeling sad or weak, think back on these. Can ye feel so now? I
am here to testify that you can. God is there. He loves you just as much
now as ever. :)

 In this Christmas season, we are all a little more reminded of Christ,
and I love it. I hope you all have a wonderful week. I would encourage
you to go about with joy in your heart. Try to find this Song of
Redeeming Love. :)

- Elder Michael Miles

11-26-12

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

We actually missed it entirely without realizing it here. They don't
celebrate it here. Kinda funny.

Things are going well. Got my new companion Elder Beck. Nice laid back
guy. We are getting along very well so far.

Spiritual Thought!

Today, I would like to talk about the Sacrament.

Think about how much you respect the Covenants you have made.
Especially in the Holy Temple if you have. Think about how much those
mean to you. How much those mean to God. Think about the wording.
Maybe even go study the wording a little. It can be very specific and
meaningful. Think about how big of a deal they feel to you.

Now let's think about the Sacrament. The Sacrament is a wonderful
Ordinance that we are priveleged to take part in every week. In this
we renew every covenant we have made. Every time we take the
Sacrament, we are essentially remaking those Covenants. Those
Ordinances we have done to come to God are re-enacted in our hearts.
We promise to keep God's commandments and to think about Jesus Christ
in return for a complete forgiveness of our sins, and a complete and
wonderful renewal of all Covenants we have made, as long as we have
repented of sin. How wonderful is the Sacrament?

So, my encouragement today it to try to love the Sacrament more. Try
to see it more and more as the great and wonderous Ordinance that it
is. Try to feel the Spirit more. Treat it like you do the Temple in a
sense. It is just as Holy. I testify of these things in the name of
our Good Shepherd, Jesus the Christ, amen. :)

Have a great week everyone! I wish you all the best! God be with you.
Remember to smile and look for happiness. :)

- Elder Michael Miles

*Editor's note: Michael is a senior companion, as well as a district leader.

11-19-12

Hey everyone! Trying to save time today, so I don't have much time to write, but I wanted to say hello.

Just had transfers, and I am staying in Köthen. An Elder Beck is coming. I am excited to get to know someone new and build a new friendship.

As far as a spiritual thought, I would like to leave you with some quotes from a book that my grandmother was telling me about. The book is called: Divine Signatures

'Coincidence is the word we use when we can't see the levers and the pulleys.' - my comment: God has the plan. He knows what He is doing.
No worries. Just do what you can in your sphere of influence. :)

"God loves His children and it pleases Him to bless them, especially when they are striving to do His will. These blessings, also called 'tender mercies,' come in many different forms and in many different ways.  Sometimes, the Lord sends His blessings in such a highly unusual, dramatic, or precisely timed manner, that it might be likened to a 'divine signature.' It is as though the Lord 'signs' the blessing personally so that we will know with certainty that it comes from Him.
In doing so, God not only give us the blessing, but at the same time, He also strengthens our faith and deepens our testimony of Him." - I can testify that sometimes God gives us very specific blessings to help us remember Him and to think about His Love. He cares so much.
You can trust Him. He's watching out for you. He's on your side. :)

I hope you guys are all doing well. Have a good week. Go search out happiness and make a good week. :) Love you guys. Keep close to Christ.

- Elder Michael Miles

11-12-12

Today I would like to share one simple thought. God has a plan. As a matter of fact, God has The Plan. He knows what's best. He cares. He won't let things get out of hand. He will take care of you as long as you let Him. As long as you keep following Him. Trust Him. He loves you. I can testify of that, in Christs name. John 20:27 "- and be not faithless, but believing." God's got your back, as long as you let Him be there.

Have a great week everyone. Keep close to the Light. Talk to you all next week. :)

- Elder Michael Miles

11-5-12

Hello everyone! I hope you all had a great Halloween. Interestingly, it is recognized, but not really celebrated here. It is actually the year anniversary of, I think something to do with Martin Luther. I may have been the day that he posted the Thesis, I am not sure. But they call it Reformations day, and it is a work holliday. Some children go around doing trick-or-treating, but hardly anyone had decorations out, and I really only saw a hadful of children out. Kinda sad to me. Our English class is going well. People are bringing there friends, and we are getting more and more opportunities to share smaller, condensed messages from the Gospel with people we may not have otherwise reached, or gotten to really talk to. Wonderful experience, and great to see the work move forward. Nothing can stop this work. I can testify to that. Spiritual thought for the week. I have been memorizing a scripture: Alma 37:36-37 36 Yea, and let all thy doings be unto the Lord, and withersoever thou goest, let it be in the Lord. Yea, let all thy thoughts be directed unto the Lord continually, yea, let the affections of thy heart be placed upon the Lord forever. 37 Council with the Lord in all thy doings, and He shall direct thee for good. Yea, and when thou layest down at night, lie down unto the Lord, that He may watch over you in your sleep, and when thou risest in the morning, let thy heart be full of thanks unto God, and if you do these things, ye shall be lifted up at the last day. What I really have come to love about this scripture, is that it so often says 'let'. It testifies to me that we know where to go. We can feel what we should be doing. We know how to do right. We know how to follow God. We know the Lord personally, and He knows us. Now the question is, are we letting ourselves know these things and see these things? Are we letting ourselves acknowledge the way we should go, letting go of our unrighteous desires? Are we letting the desires of our heart, who know the Lord and want to follow Him, truly follow the Lord? Are we letting ourselves be close to Him? It can be very simple when we set our minds to do good and to be close to our Loving Creator. As we are truly honest with ourselves, and with all of our heart let go of evil, letting our natural good desires drive us, and carry us to follow Christ, the way becomes easy. The burden becomes lighter. Christ is with us as much as we let Him be. He can't force us. He would never want to. But He is imediately there when we let Him in. I testify to that. He loves me. He loves you. He knows you, and you may know Him better than you realize. And I testify of all these things in His name, in the name of Jesus Christ, amen. Have a glorious week everyone. Keep close to Christ. Look for the happy things, and try to remember to smile. :) I love you guys. God be with you.