IT'S FINALLY HERE - NOAH'S RELEASE LETTER!

Miller Family,

We are grateful to have had Elder Noah Miller, serving in our mission. I’m sure letters have shown the excitement he has experienced while serving the people here. As we approach the end of his mission it is time for us to prepare for his release.

 Elder Miller  will be released and fly home on 20 Apr 2017.  Until that time, we feel it is very important for him to continue to serve to the end with all his  heart, might, mind, and strength. We will try to make the planning process as little of a distraction as possible and we encourage you to help him to focus on his missionary efforts as well.  Nevertheless, Elder Miller will be informed  about the details of his release and trip home.

 I hope that the last months of Elder Noah Miller's mission will be among the most treasured. We are thankful for the efforts and dedication that he has given in service of the Lord. We are also thankful for the support you have given him in this work. 

May the Lord continue to bless you.

Sincerely,

Christian H. Fingerle, President
Germany Berlin Mission

WEEK 89 MARCH 8TH, 2017

It was a quick week this week and went pretty well. To start off on Wednesday Elder Sabin from the 70 came and visited us and had some really good things to say. 'Twas rad. Always fun to see half the mission too, even though I don't know a lot of the missionaries anymore. I'm an old man. Something that stood out to me that Elder Sabin said was, if we want to know the truth we have to pay the price. Many times we want answers and truth and blessings but we aren't willing to do the things we need to do in order to receive these truths, blessings and answers.  Many things in life that are worth it, with few exceptions, aren't going to come easy.

On Friday we had another Spanish family home evening. Spanish people are crazy. A different kind of crazy than Germans. But it's a good crazy. We had a better turn out this time. I can never understand a word but it's always a fun time. I wanna learn Spanish when I get home. 

Those are pretty much the two big highlights of the week. We had Zone pday today and had a cook off. Elder Lex from Austria wanted to make these pastry things and they were actually pretty good but I don't think we won. They were rolled up cooked dough balls and inside them had strawberry and chocolate. We called them wonder balls. But Elder Chadwick and his squad had sisters so obviously that's unfair and they made like some chicken curry something with pineapples and it was spicy and good and blah blah blah. The secret ingredient we had to put in was honey. We won in my book though. 

I thought Hickenlooper and I caught fire this week! We planned on having an investigator at church and 2 or 3 less actives. Except we ended up having 0 investigators and 1 Spanish less active who can't speak German. Better than none though right? Happens. We get transfer calls this week which blows my mind so we will see what happens. I would like to stay in Hamburg. 

Love you all! Tschüssyyyy 

Elder Miller 

WEEK 88, FEBRUARY 27TH, 2016

Hi family!

Sorry not a lot of time today as usual - my bad. We went to the Hard Rock Cafe for lunch and that was good vibes. Till I saw my bill. 

Anyways quick funny story of the week. We got to head down to the temple on Wednesday and that was way good as always. Had our own Harry Potter room to ourselves the entire way down. 6 hours. We rolled into Freiberg a little before 9 and it was sprinkling rain. It's about a 45 minute walk from the train station to the Temple hotel. At about the last 10-15 minute stretch it started pouring HAIL. The temple is on a hill so for the rest of that time Elder Hickenlooper and I were sprinting for what felt like miles through BB pellet hail. It hurt. By the time we showed up to the receptionist, you guessed it - we were sopping wets. We also shared our room with another man visiting the temple. We opened up the door and realized he was sleeping and didn't want to wake him so we both hurried in the bathroom. The first thing we notice? His nice fresh pair of teeth sitting on the sink:) We still had to make some calls so we scuffled out of the room again laughing. We got back later and the light was on this time so I thought we were about to face a grumpy old man but he was so nice. I said sorry we were late and awoke him but he said no problem he was just happy he didn't have to be alone! Cute lil old grandpa dude. Gave us chocolate before we left the next morning. I'm grateful for the temple. It feels like I have been on the go on the go on the go for weeks and I finally got to slow down and have some time to think for myself. 

We have some appointments made out though for this week so it should be better week! I'm excited! I love you all and miss you.

Have a good one!

Elder Miller

WEEK 86, FEBRUARY 14TH, 2016

Not much to write about this week! Very little happened. People don't really feel like opening up the door this time of year cause they don't wantto let all the cold air in. Understandable....

Hoping this week we will see a little more! The sun came out today so that was good! We went to tour the Hamburg soccer stadium for my birthday but it was closed so we're just gonna go next week. Can't believe I'll be 21 on Wednesday whatttt???!!! Time really flies.

We did actually get the chance to meet with some less actives this week though. One man named Bruder Kaprinski. He is old. He loves to cook though and no matter what we talk about, without fail, he manages somehow to tie it in with cooking or food. It was so bad at one point Elder Hickenlooper and I just started cracking up trying so hard to

hold it in but we just couldn't. He's so nice though. We finally got to share our spiritual thought, invited him to church and got outta there.

We are getting ping pong Tuesdays started back up tonight in the church. Already have a couple people who said they are coming so I am way excited about it:) Hope everyone has a good week!

Happy Valentine's Day! Love you guys so much!

Elder Miller

WEEK 85, FEBRUARY 7TH, 2017

Tom Bradyyyyyyyyyy I am not even surprised. Go Pats!

I'm in Hamburg. I love it. It was literally a breath of fresh air as soon as I stepped out of the train. Lights, big buildings, people. Amazing. So different from Dark, empty Forst! It should be an aight transfer. My comp Elder Hickenlooper is a good guy. He's organized, he has some unusual cleaning requests and he's not a fan of shoes in the house so that's good. He is doing his 24/7 German transfer these next 6 weeks so it will be good practice.  He is starting his 4th transfer so he is still a fresh young buck. We are working hard and good so far. I can barely make it to 9 without falling asleep. 

The ward is good. Small but good. Got about 30 old people every Sunday hahaha. Everyone is really nice though. We got to visit a couple families this week as well as the branch president. He is awesome - just him and his wife. We weren't planning on having an eating appointment on Sunday but the only young family invited us over for lunch during church. They have a couple crazy kids so that's always fun.

So Monday and Tuesday was pretty much just packing and finishing up goodbyes. We played ping pong with Mike one last time and I wanted to let him win and I thought about it, but I just couldn't. We went to the Woites, had tacos, said goodbye to the crazy kids and the next day I was off to Hamburgggg:) 

Thursday and Friday we got right to it. It was a longer weekly planning to get me familiar with everything but later we got to some finding, went by on some contacts and called people. We had a little bit of luck so we will see what this next week brings. We got to have my first appointment with a dude named Andy. Super cool. Just believes that he doesn't need to do anything except chill because Jesus has taken care of everything already hahah. We will see what we can do about that.

Saturday we had a gnarly service project. Dang Germans and their wood. Here's the thing, half of Germany is still living in the 19th century. So they have to constantly burn wood to heat their freaking house if they wanna stay warm. If they run out of wood they are in trouble, so we spent 4 hours chopping, hauling, and stacking! All good though.

I really like Hamburg so far. Can't believe I am going to say it but I think it tops Berlin. I've seen about 20 Jaguars, a couple Ferraris, Teslas, a billion Range Rovers, some Rolls Royces. Ridiculous. I think the people who live here have a little bit of dollars. But I'm praying Elder Hickenlooper and I see some success this transfer, I believe we will! Grateful to start this last chapter of my mission and finish strong! 

Love you!

Elder Miller 

WEEK 84, JANUARY 30TH, 2016

Transfer calls came and I ammmmm...... 

OUTTI FIVE THOU!! 

After two in Forst I'm headed for a bigg change! HAMBURG:) The city is called Bergedorf and I have heard good things about it so I'm way excited.

Plus yeah it is Hamburg sooo. My new comp is Elder Hickenlooper. Yeah, took me a few days to get his name down.. Hickendocker, Hickendooper,

Hickepoo...er  Anyways, he is in his fourth transfer so he's still pretty fresh. Heard he's a good kid and a hard worker so it should be good.

Other than that news, not much this week! Wednesday we went down to Freiberg to watch the worldwide missionary training conference. Way, way good. As a lot of you know, there has been some big schedule changes allowing us to be a lot more flexible with our time and choosing when we do things. It's going to be so much more efficient - I love it. We overnighted and then on Thursday went to the Temple and did baptisms. Always a good time in the Temple.

Sunday goodbye day was sad as always. It's always sad to leave some of your favorite members. We have a couple more appointments before we head out on Wednesday though. Thank you all for the continued support!

See y'all in Hambuuurrrggggg!

Tschüß!

Elder Miller

Bruder Bentke

The why do I gotta get transferred pose

Lena

Elder Illum goes home this week so we held his funeral.

 

Bye Forst!!!

WEEK 83, JANUARY 25TH, 2016

What's goooood!

It was a quick week this past one. Seemed like we were pretty busy looking for something to be busy with.. hahah

Tuesday was the first really good zone training meeting I have had in a long time. They gave some assignments to some older missionaries this time and they all killed it. Lots of motivational stuff and words of encouragement towards having a good attitude, positive mindset, and being confident. God qualifies whom he calls. We all have the ability when we're worthy, especially as missionaries, to get through tough times and to not fear. 

Thursday we went to eat at Familie Woites. They are probably my favorite family here in Forst. They are so real and honest and I feel like we can talk to them about anything. They respect us as missionaries but also treat us like normal people and not church robots like a lot of people think we are. The wife is American and she married a German. He speaks better English then I do though, it's crazy. They have three kids. The oldest daughter is maybe 6 or 7 and speaks fluent English and German and she speaks to us in English. But the other two are about 4 and 5 and they try to speak English but halfway through they always switch to German - it's so funny. I love going over there, it's always a good time. 

Friday we drove to a little Dorf outside of Forst called Döbern. We doored that place for about three hours till I couldn't feel anymore it was so so cold. We only really had luck at one door. She was super nice and said we could come back except there was no way she is coming to church ever. It was nice to get a change of scenery though. We came back and weekly planned and that was about it.

Saturdayyy we went to the temple:) Elder Fritz doesn't like to go which makes no sense to me, but I make him because it's not an opportunity you get often. Takes 4 hours to get there which really blows but it's all good. I printed out like 8 names for baptisms and we got there and they didn't have enough workers so we couldn't do it!! Our fault we should have called so that was kind of a bummer. Anyway, we did initiators instead, which aren't as fun but still necessary so whatevsss. 

Mannoh. It is the last week of the transfer. It's been a tough past little while. Probably the toughest of my mission. I've been thinking a lot about what Eyring said some General Conferences back. If the foundation of faith is not embedded in our hearts, then the power to endure will crumble. It has echoed in my head. Sometimes faith is the only thing that keeps us going and that's why it is so important not to lose it. I know we are the children of a living God who loves us. Everything he gives us and lets us experience, the good and the bad, is meant to shape us into the people he knows we can become. Just gotta let it. Fight the good fight, keep the faith.

Love you guys

Elder Miller

WEEK 82 JANUARY 17TH, 2017

Hey!

So it was actually a really good week this week can you believe that? Absolutely flew. Probably cause I got to go to Berlin for a couple days... But I still feel like I'm going insane. Not in a terrible way or anything. I catch myself sometimes talking to myself and I think, “ Elder Miller you weirdo why are you talking to yourself? It's so lonely out here on the border of Poland, can you blame me??? 

Anyways Tuesday I went on exchange with Elder Illum here in Forst. I don't even know how to explain Elder Illum. He is the weirdest, funniest, most mysterious kid I've met on the mission. Never know what he's going to say or what he is thinking and he always has this smirk look on his face.. Anyways we went by some members and then it started blizzarding so we went in and tried calling some people. Nothing too eventful. 

Wednesday after district meeting Fritz and I took off to Berlin. We exchanged Thursday with the AP's. I got to be with my boy Elder Nearon:) Known him for a long time now. It was a way good time. Taught some awesome lessons, had some snowball fights, and deep talks. I needed it. Good pick me up exchange. 

Friday and Saturday we weekly planned and tried making out appointments with people but didn't have a great amount of luck. I ran into some old friends this week! I hadn't seen them in a while and to one of them I said "Du siehst alter aus!" Which is.. you look older! And everyone all of a sudden was like "WOOAHHH" and I was so confused and then I realized what I said was not taken the right way and it was definitely one of the more embarrassing moments on my mission. Die wissen aber doch, dass es nicht so gemeint war;) 

We're going to try and hit finding hard this week. Forst is absolutely dead and we've got no one right now. Really sad. I'm gonna change that around asap though. So we good:)

I love you all and hope you have the best week! 

Don't forget to pray:) 

Elder Miller

SO. MUCH. SNOW!!!!

WEEK 81 JANUARY 9TH, 2017

It was definitely a roller coaster week this week. Highest of highs

and lowest of lows. Pretty much a mission in a nutshell for you.

Tuesday we headed down to Dresden for interviews with President. I was

the last interview and probably the shortest. Frustrating but what can

ya do. We still got to talk about some things that needed to be

addressed. On our way home he called us while waiting for our train in

Cottbus! Basically what he said was that the Temple President needed

help and he needs us in Freiberg tomorrow and we will be set apart as

official Temple workers for the rest of the month! We would live in a

4 man with the Freiberg Elders and work in the Temple everyday!! I was

freakin out, so we hurry to get home and started packing immediately!

Wednesday we took off and had the prettiest train ride of my life.

Dresden to Freiberg, mountains, rivers, little houses - everything

covered in snow. I was trying to take pics the whole time but there

was a stupid glare on the window so nothing turned out. We got to

Freiberg late, it was blizzarding, so we had to wait to be set apart

until the next day.

Thursdeeee, the Temple is a 30 minute walk from the apartment and we

needed to be there at 6:30am everyday. So as an AZ boy walking in a 0

degree blizzard at 6am... definitely new. But we got set apart and the

Temple work began! Took part in witnessing baptisms for the dead,

Confirming (that was kinda hard), sealings and sessions! It was the

best, I was loving every second. Everyone was so nice there and all

of the Temple workers were so grateful for our help.

Friday the Temple Pres called us in his office and let us know he

found out that as full time missionaries, you are actually not allowed

to be set apart as Temple workers.. we had to turn in our white coats

and name tags and it was really sad. He still said we could stay and

there are things we could help with the rest of the month so it was

okay but still, I didn't wanna give my things back! Later that evening

after we had been home we went to the store real quick to grab a

couple ingredients for food. What do ya know, we forgot the keys…

We called the Freiberg elders and they made calls but nobody knew where the

spares were. I called my homie Sister Garrett and she suggested I try

the credit card thing. I laughed and told her that doesn't work, but a

little desperate here I whipped out my credit card and 30 seconds

later *CLICK* I couldn't believe it! I got in with a credit card! The

things you learn on the mission..

Saturday was the usual Temple work but a little slow because there was

a big conference going on in Dresden. Something really cool though

about Freiberg is that it's an international Temple, meaning people

come from Switzerland, Austria, The Netherlands and some other

countries. Got to meet a lot of people from different places. We got a

call from President Fingerle a little while later, actually Elder

Fritz did, and then he told me we were going to go back to Forst. I was

upset. President said we could go back to the Temple once a week

though so it's better than nothing. Later the Freiberg Elders called

us and told us to let them in cause the door to get into the apartment

building was locked. Well what do ya know WE LEFT THE KEYS INSIDE

AGAIN. Except this time I was in a hoodie and flip flops. So

we were outside our apartment trying to get in for about 2 hours. We

called the sisters to see if their bobby pins would get us in, nope.

We called members and we tried Elder Moody's crappy card but it was too

flimsy. So finally one of the members just told us they would prepare

a room in the hostel for us and just to walk there. Great. Except

don't forget it's 0 degrees outside and I'm in one of the Elders flip

flops that have holes in the bottom and a light hoodie. So we walk

first a little ways to the sisters apartment and they just cover me

with blankets. It actually worked and I was warm other then my soaking

wet freezing feet. Finally got to the hostel at midnight and were

able to get some sleep.

Sundayyy you guessed it church in my flip flops and Element hoodie:)

Luckily we finally got ahold of a spare key and only had to walk 30

minutes in snow with flip flops one more time. Got back, packed and

took off back to Forst.

The week started so well and ended pretty rough with some other things

happening as well. Been a long transfer. It's all good though things look

bright ahead.

I'm so grateful for the opportunity I had to work in the Temple for

those few days. Really felt the love of God. Everytime I am in there

regardless of whatever is going on I am reminded everything is gonna

be fine. It's such a peaceful feeling you just can't get anywhere

else.

Love you guys

Elder Miller

The Freiberg Temple!

me doing area book work while Fritz sleeps in his natural habitat

WEEK 80 JANUARY 3, 2017

WHATS GOOD 2017!! I hope everyone had a great New Year!

I thought I would die before this year got here but look at me ehh ;)  I am exhausted. One of my New Years goals is to get more exhausted though, if thats possible. Gotta absolutely milk everything I can out of the short time I have left in the mish. 

On New Year's Eve we were by family Bode. It was a lot of fun. We just hung out and played games until we had to bounce. At midnight unfortunately, it wasn't as cool as Berlin last year. It's a little different. Instead of fireworks shooting in the sky (they still had some of that though) they just use legit bombs from Poland. So the sky doesn't light up, but it is LOUD. Till about 4am. Now Germany doesn't top America in many things, but in New Years they most definitely do.

Because of the holidays it hasn't been the busiest week for us! Lots of people out of town and/or busy which is understandable. We did have an eating appointment with a less active though! I think it went well. But other than that, Elder Fritz and I had lots of cleaning to do anyway. It was unreal - I go into the kitchen this week and I see, I kid you not, seven different drinking glasses. SEVEN! All Elder Fritz. Not the first time he has done this. So I took the liberty of hiding the majority of the glasses. I have a water bottle so I don't use cups. So I have left him with 2 cups, plenty! and if he wants a 3rd cup he's gonna have to wash one of his 2:) Kinda funny cause it reminded me of all my water bottles I would leave strewn around the house at home all the time and it would drive mom crazy

We head to Dresden tomorrow for interviews with President. I'm excited, I'm going to have a good interview. Hopefully the work picks up this week now that the holidays are over! Sorry for the short email but I'm out of time. 

Love you guys have a good week!

Elder Miller