Michael didn't have time to write a blog, he was transferred to Hildesheim. Near Hannover.
But he wishes his best to his blog readers, and reminds you to find your happiness in the scriptures!
Your friendly blog admin,
-Andrew
Saturday, February 16, 2013
2-4-13
Hi everyone! :) I hope this blog post finds you well. This week was slow
but good. Got to see another baptism with the Elders from Bernburg.
Also had a couple birthdays (the elders in Halle).
Today I wanted to talk about something I have been studying. As I do any kind of studying, I have bee keeping my eye out for two patterns I have noticed, or rather, two scriptures that seem to occur over and over in the Book of Mormon. The first: seek and ye shall find, ask and ye shall receive, knock and it shall be opened unto you. The second: if you ask in faith/with the Holy Ghost/according to God's will, it shall be given to you, whatever you may ask.
I love these scriptures. They are -such- a powerful promise. I have been writting down each of the references as I find them. Let me share some of my list with you.
3 Ne 14:7 & 18:20 & 27:28-29
Mormon 9:21
1 Ne 15:11
Enos 1:15
2 Ne 4:35
Moroni 7:26
This promise is -everywhere-. I think God is trying to emphasise something. :)
I can testify that God answers prayers. I know that he helps us to develop righteous desires, and inspires us to feel good about praying about them when they are in line with what He would want for us. I can promise you, adding my testimony to the many prophets in the scriptures that have preceeded me, that God listens to you, and will give you what you ask for as long as you follow three conditions.
1. Ask in faith. Look at the proof of the stories in the scriptures, stories you hear in the church, specific promises in the scriptures like the mentioned references. God does answer prayers. You can trust Him on that. :)
2. Not asking astray/asking only for what aligns with His will for us. This means understanding what is good and righteous by learning about what is good and right, and then being sensitive to the Holy Ghost as you pry. As you listen to Him, He will help you to feel if your desire is right. Whether you should be asking for it, whether He can support you. He will also help you to feel the promise that God will answer the prayer. :)
3. Work for it! We cannot expect God to do anything for us, if we are not willing to do anything ourselves. When you have a dream or desire, work for it! God can't make something out of nothing in those situations. We have to be doing what we can. God will guide us, and miracles will happen as we strive in faith for what we feel is right.
I testify in the name of Christ that God loves you. I testify that He wants to help you to achieve wonderous things. Trust Him.
Have a wonderful week guys. Go do wonderful things. :) And keep close to the Savior, that He may save you. :)
- Elder Michael Bright Miles
Today I wanted to talk about something I have been studying. As I do any kind of studying, I have bee keeping my eye out for two patterns I have noticed, or rather, two scriptures that seem to occur over and over in the Book of Mormon. The first: seek and ye shall find, ask and ye shall receive, knock and it shall be opened unto you. The second: if you ask in faith/with the Holy Ghost/according to God's will, it shall be given to you, whatever you may ask.
I love these scriptures. They are -such- a powerful promise. I have been writting down each of the references as I find them. Let me share some of my list with you.
3 Ne 14:7 & 18:20 & 27:28-29
Mormon 9:21
1 Ne 15:11
Enos 1:15
2 Ne 4:35
Moroni 7:26
This promise is -everywhere-. I think God is trying to emphasise something. :)
I can testify that God answers prayers. I know that he helps us to develop righteous desires, and inspires us to feel good about praying about them when they are in line with what He would want for us. I can promise you, adding my testimony to the many prophets in the scriptures that have preceeded me, that God listens to you, and will give you what you ask for as long as you follow three conditions.
1. Ask in faith. Look at the proof of the stories in the scriptures, stories you hear in the church, specific promises in the scriptures like the mentioned references. God does answer prayers. You can trust Him on that. :)
2. Not asking astray/asking only for what aligns with His will for us. This means understanding what is good and righteous by learning about what is good and right, and then being sensitive to the Holy Ghost as you pry. As you listen to Him, He will help you to feel if your desire is right. Whether you should be asking for it, whether He can support you. He will also help you to feel the promise that God will answer the prayer. :)
3. Work for it! We cannot expect God to do anything for us, if we are not willing to do anything ourselves. When you have a dream or desire, work for it! God can't make something out of nothing in those situations. We have to be doing what we can. God will guide us, and miracles will happen as we strive in faith for what we feel is right.
I testify in the name of Christ that God loves you. I testify that He wants to help you to achieve wonderous things. Trust Him.
Have a wonderful week guys. Go do wonderful things. :) And keep close to the Savior, that He may save you. :)
- Elder Michael Bright Miles
Monday, January 28, 2013
1-28-13
Hi everyone!
A little reminder today about Eternal Perspective.
There
is something I have experienced before that I think many of you can
relate with. I am speaking of the moments where you 'come to yourself'
and realize that something that is making you stressed or unhappy or
worried or angry has little or no importance. You find yourself taking a
step back and finding almost immediate peace and relief as you
recognize that it does not need to be worried about, and you are able to
let it go. I can testify to you that many, if not all of these moments
are inspirations from the Holy Ghost, as He helps us to have a more
Eternal Perspective. We all know some piece of this feeling of Eternal
Perspective. That feeling that you finally see the larger picture of
what is truly important. You feel happier and much more at peace as you
let go of the things that are less important, and simply start doing
what you can with what is before you. I would challenge all of you to
take up a smile, and see what you can let go of, bringing yourself more
in tune with God. :)
I
can testify that Christ is at your side. That He knows and loves you
personally and that He will help you in any way that you can. Be ready
to listen to Him. He knows the way. :)
And I say these things in the name of the Good Shepherd, Jesus Christ, amen.
God be with you.
1-21-13
Hello everyone. :) I hope you aren't all freezing to death. Make sure to
wear some extra layers and stuff. It has been pretty cold and mildly
humid, just making it colder. :P
Been a pretty good week. We got to see the confirmation of the lady that got baptized last week. That was really cool. The Spirit was so strong as the blessing was given. :)
Had a little craziness agian with a trip to Dessau, but things worked out alright. Pretty good week overall. Kinda bothersome though, because all of our student investigators/contacts have a lot of tests and are very busy, and half of them (the chineese ones) will all be leaving to China for the Chineese new year (simester break), and the rest will probably go home for break as well. Things are still going well though. :) We even talked to a younger German person who actually wants to meet with us! That was a surprise. Usually the German students want nothing to do with us. :P
Spiritual thought time! :)
I was thinking, during church yesterday, how many people tend to say that they would love to be newly baptized again. Once I truly learned that the sacrament is a complete renewal of all the baptizmal covenants and blessings, I find it sad now when people say that. I want to sit down with them and talk to them about how they are newly baptized each week. I continued pondering and realized that what most people see, looking in hindsight at their own baptism, are the feelings they felt at the time. The thing that draws them back to wanting to be back there was the contrast. How much of a difference it made. The change they feel. That's the answer. The way to truly make full use of the sacrament is week, is to prepare ourselves, sanctify ourselves. We strive to see the Sacrament for the great and wonderous blessing and change that it is. A new baptism. We need to let it change us, and work to notice the difference as it comes. Christ is making us clean, but only as far as we let Him in. :)
Well I hope you guys all have a wonderful week. :) Go do something cool. :)
God bless you and be with you. (D&C 84:88)
- Elder Michael Miles
Been a pretty good week. We got to see the confirmation of the lady that got baptized last week. That was really cool. The Spirit was so strong as the blessing was given. :)
Had a little craziness agian with a trip to Dessau, but things worked out alright. Pretty good week overall. Kinda bothersome though, because all of our student investigators/contacts have a lot of tests and are very busy, and half of them (the chineese ones) will all be leaving to China for the Chineese new year (simester break), and the rest will probably go home for break as well. Things are still going well though. :) We even talked to a younger German person who actually wants to meet with us! That was a surprise. Usually the German students want nothing to do with us. :P
Spiritual thought time! :)
I was thinking, during church yesterday, how many people tend to say that they would love to be newly baptized again. Once I truly learned that the sacrament is a complete renewal of all the baptizmal covenants and blessings, I find it sad now when people say that. I want to sit down with them and talk to them about how they are newly baptized each week. I continued pondering and realized that what most people see, looking in hindsight at their own baptism, are the feelings they felt at the time. The thing that draws them back to wanting to be back there was the contrast. How much of a difference it made. The change they feel. That's the answer. The way to truly make full use of the sacrament is week, is to prepare ourselves, sanctify ourselves. We strive to see the Sacrament for the great and wonderous blessing and change that it is. A new baptism. We need to let it change us, and work to notice the difference as it comes. Christ is making us clean, but only as far as we let Him in. :)
Well I hope you guys all have a wonderful week. :) Go do something cool. :)
God bless you and be with you. (D&C 84:88)
- Elder Michael Miles
Monday, January 14, 2013
1-14-13
Hello everyone. :) Got a story for you.
Was
down in Dessau (city in my area) again, on exchanges again. We looked
at the bus and tram times for something like 20 minutes trying to decide
if they would be helpful for our three appointments that evening, we
decided yes, made sure we understood the times, and bought a day ticket.
We got on the bikes for the start to get to our first appointment. Or
at least, we thought we were headed there. Turns out I had misjudged the
path I saw, we had to turn back after a couple minutes of riding and
find the other route, up over the train tracks, and finally got to the
first appointment, late. We then got out of that appointment with good
time, and started taking the regular route back past the train station,
when I remembered that we were gonna try a path through this big park
that might save us time. The other bikes chain was getting loose, so it
kept coming off, and after a couple times I checked it and realized that
one of the links was broken on one side and was not going to keep the
chain on for more than 10 seconds. :P (Oh by the way, the person I was
on exchanges with, I was with because I am District Leader, and he is
new. This was in his second week here.) We walked our bikes through the
park, and got to the second appointment alright (all things considered)
late once again. On the way out of that appointment, we watched the bus,
which we were going to take, drive down the road. We had missed it, and
had to walk back to the station. Bought ourselves a little tub of ice
cream since we had some time, caught the train back, and had a nice
restful evening talking and eating ice cream. :P Adventurous day. :)
Sometimes
the Lord has other plans. :) The real trick is to take it as it comes,
trust Him, and keep close to Him. We see a good example of this in
Mosiah 23&24. The people of Alma were wonderful people, but God gave
them more tough times, that their faith could grow even stronger, and
they could be given more stepping stones, in the form of trials, to help
them towards perfection, towards the increasing of their faith. Alma
23:21-22 http://www.lds.org/
Love you guys. Stay close to Christ. He loves you. God be with you. Go make it a good week. :)
1-7-13
Hey everyone!
Pretty cold down here, but not too much so. I hear Utah is getting a pretty heavy cold snap. I hope you guys are all alright.
Also, Ein gesundes neues Jahr wünche ich euch.
Thing that all of the memebers have been saying. ^^^ It means that I wish you a 'healthy new year'. Silly Germans. :P
Spiritual thought!
3rd Nephi 7:17-18
17
And he did minister many things unto them; and all of them cannot be
written, and a part of them would not suffice, therefore they are not
written in this book. And Nephi did minister with power and with great
authority.
This
is just astounding to me to read. He had such amazing faith, and such a
powerful, pure testimony, that they had nothing more to say. They
couldn't even deny it. Wonderous. I challenge you to look at this and
think about how you could improve the example that you give, and how you
could improve your own testimony. How wonderful would it be to be able
to let the Spirit truly work through you like this? I encourage you to
let the Spirit work though you in the everyday ways. The example that we
give to others. Kindness. The small moments of testimony bearing that
we get. Doesn't even have to be a formal testimony. We convey a lot
without direct words.
I
love you guys. I hope the holidays treated you well, and I wish you the
best as things start back up. Keep turned unto Christ. He's there for
-you-.
12-31-12
Too busy for a blog post this week, but he had a wonderful new year!
-Andrew Miles, his Brother.
-Andrew Miles, his Brother.
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