WEEK 5 JULY 23, 2015

Seeeeeeeepppppp!

Well family, It is my last p-day... In the MTC. Hahaha 6 more days to Deutschland!!! We got our travel itineraries! We fly from SLC to Chicago, then to Paris then finally Berlin. It doesn't feel real. I'm going to miss this place, I think. Maybe not. Probably not. I really have loved my time here. For anyone soon going to the MTC you can't really listen to anyone else's opinion about it. You create your own experience here. If you have a miserable attitude about it, it will be very, very miserable. But if you make the best of everything, it will be just fine. The MTC is truly a special place. There's nothing like it and you only get the experience for such a short time, then never again. Even though you may not be at the MTC for very long, I feel like it's such a big part of your mission. I won't forget the fun times I've had here and the friendships I've been able to make. ON TO THE CRAZY WEEK. 

We had our first TRC skype on Thursday. We got to skype with a member in Germany and teach her a lesson. It was so fun we were pretty much just laughing for 20 of the 30 minutes of our lesson. She was so nice, she loved us. Other than that honestly we have just been working our tails off in the class room. Cramming as much as we can language-wise into our heads before we take off. 

Sundays are a little hard for me. We just have so much time on our hands and it's hard not to think about home. But at devotional Elder Allen, the head of all the missionaries, talked to us. Beforehand, I didn't think a lot about it because he already spoke to us but it ended up being the best talk I have heard yet. I felt like he was talking directly to me. I started to take notes but then stopped because I really just wanted to listen to everything he said without missing a word. He said our Heavenly Father knows how much we have given up to serve him, and he is so happy about our decision to serve, and that he is so grateful for our families letting us serve. Missions are not an easy thing. He is with us every step of the way, we are not alone. He's going to take such good care of us and our families. The blessings are endless. He said it a lot better than I am but you get the gist of it. I blessed the sacrament then gave a lesson on recognizing the spirit in priesthood. 

WEEKLY STRUGGLES:

An Elder in our district is going 

home :(  He's a great kid. I hope he makes it back out here. 

Saw Lees at the temple on Wednesday coming out of my session. 100% unplanned. She shook my hand then pretty much ran away haha.

I have gained a solid 10 pounds.

I've  lost about three pairs of socks. I'm pretty sure these stupid washing machines eat them.

I had, I kid you not, 110 emails when I

got on line this morning. 90 of them were Facebook requests from Germans.. Don't really know what's going on there....Maybe the mission made me a Facebook. Nobody else got requests though...

WEEKLY TRIUMPHS:

I'm still alive. 

I can't believe I'm going into the field already. It feels like yesterday I was boarding the plane to come here. The best is yet to come!! I love being a missionary. I love wearing this name tag. I know that Christ lives and Heavenly Father has a plan for us all. His plan for me at this time was to come on a mission and I'm so grateful I was able to recognize that fact. I love you all so much. Get ready for some crazy Deutschland experiences. I'm glad you are with me for this ride.

See you in Germany!

Thank you to Elder Day's Mom for the cool missionary action figures hahahah! She thinks I'm African American I guess!!

WEEK 4 JULY 15, 2015

Hallo!

In 2 days I will already have a month down in the mission.. Blows my mind. Not going to lie, week 4 was a little rough. But I still loved it! Not much to report on this week. Just studying and working hard to learn this language! 13 more days until we are out of here! It's going to go by so fast. We get our travel itineraries tomorrow so I will let you guys know the plans next week! As for my head, they've come down to a conclusion. It's either a cyst or bacteria build up. Nothing too serious. Just gonna give me some headaches. The doctor has prescribed me some medicine to help with my headaches and sent me to physical therapy. Physical therapy was miserable. Those who have been to PT know that sometimes they do the electrocution shock simulation thing. Yeah, it's normally not bad because they do it on your arm, your leg, your back, or somewhere like those areas. They put it on my head... I didn't even know you could do that. Anyway, they told me the bump is going to leave when it feels like it. Could be tomorrow, could be 20 years. So we're just going to have to monitor it for a while. Something cool I learned this week is I will be learning multiple languages. Our mission president told us we will pick up on some Italian, French, and various African languages. Not fluent obviously, but greetings and things like that. 

I've notice as a missionary you are always just absolutely exhausted. All the time. At the end of the day we have personal time from 9:30-10:30. I rarely make it to 10:30. I brush my teeth and I pass out. When I do make it to 10:30 and I'm still awake, that's when I know I didn't work hard enough. 2 years is not long enough to have days off. We need to take advantage of every single minute!! Missionary work is hard. Really really hard. But there's something about it that you just love. Hard to explain but it's so rewarding.. Some days I just sit and I get so so sad for people my age who don't have the chance to serve. I want everyone to experience this. Everyone should serve!!!!!!! If you are debating on whether or not you should go, stop debating now! Coming from me, a missionary who really wasn't sure if he wanted to serve or not, even after he got his call, I promise, you will love it. You will realize there is no better place you could be, and you won't have the desire to be anywhere else!! 

I love you all so much! I pray for you everyday and I know that if this pace of my mission keeps up, I'll be seeing you guys in what feels like no time!  

Ich veiß das mein Erlöser lebt!

Elder Miller

13 days until I enter the most beautiful country in the world!!!!!

WEEK 3 JULY 8TH, 2015

Wass Gucci Fam!!

Over half way baby!! 20 short days and I will be on a plane do DEUTSCHLAND!! Boy do I have some stories this week for you all. This was by far the most fastest, annoying, best, frustrating week of the mission. Let's get to it.

Thursday: I was at lunch and all of a sudden POP my bottom permanent retainer broke. That was annoying because I just got it fixed a couple days before I left. So I went to the front office, told them and they scheduled for a shuttle to pick my companion and I up and take us to the dentist. When Elder Day and I heard we were going to be able to leave the MTC and go to the outside world for a bit, we were as excited as giddy school boys. (Elder Hann) So my appointment was at 2:30, right when they open, but we got in there at 2:00. They let us in early and as we walked in it was so sick. It was all beach themed! They had some lawn chairs and a jeep and worldly music was playing over the speaker. It was heaven to our ears to hear something other than a hymn for a little while. They made us smoothies and treated us really nice. It was a little embarrassing and sad how much fun Elder day and I were having in there, at the orthodontist... We had a full on photo shoot, they were laughing at us the entire time.

Friday: Got to watch Boyd K. Packers Funeral. It was sad but so good. Other than that Friday was nothing exciting.

Saturday: More service. We did something called Foaming. We all acted like military soldiers while working and we were being really loud, it was a good time.

Sunday: I was asked to give a talk in sacrament about the book of Mormon. Last minute. It was nerve racking but I think I did well. Everyone says I did at least, which is nice:) Also Shout out to Holly and Raquel for visiting me during my temple walk:)) I loved seeing you guys. It's so fun to see people from the outside world. I don't know it's weird and hard to explain why. 

Monday: Another bad service day. We scrubbed a brick wall. Seriously a brick wall? Pretty positive it looked exactly the same after we finished. Maybe I’m just mad because I got chemical on my shoes…. 

Tuesday: Yesterday was weird. I was fine all day until I got an itch on my head. I rubbed it and there was a bump on my head. All of a sudden I got a really bad migraine and super nauseous. I thought I was going to faint. They took me to urgent care across the street. They wanted to draw blood. They stuck a needle in my arm and she hit a nerve so I was pretty much in tears when that happened. Then she informed me she had to do the other arm since she wasn't able to extract any blood from my right arm and that was fine. Didn't hurt. Did more tests and got an X-ray. We were there for three hours. I went back this morning and they are still looking at it. One doctor thinks it’s a lymphnode, one doctor thinks its like a cyst or something. They had like 5 doctors rubbing up on my head. I'm fine now! They said they don’t think it's anything to worry about but they are going to keep calling me in to check on it until they figure out what it is. I might need surgery but that’s not for sure yet and if I do it’s not serious surgery! So nothing to worry about mom and dad:)

Frustration: It's been 3 weeks. There is a little tension in our district. We all really like each other, it’s just being with people for 16 hours a day everyday is a lot. I wish I could just chill by myself sometimes. Some of the rules here at the MTC drive me insane. It's a little ridiculous. Somebody tells me someone is breaking a rule every 10 minutes. That's where I got a little frustrated this week. Luckily a friend gave me an idea. She sent me something she wrote in the MTC when she was on her mission - just how she was feeling. So I did the same and it was a really good venting session. I want to share some of what I wrote with you guys.

"Just because we are missionaries with name tags doesn't make us any more righteous or better than anyone else. Every person in this world is as equally important as the next. Every active member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is a full time missionary too, or at least should do their best to try. The only difference is we have ONE purpose. To invite others unto Christ. I'm so tired of people worrying about things that have nothing to do with that purpose. I'm guilty of it myself. Unless we want these next two years to be a lot harder than they need to be, we need to put our pride, ignorance, and arrogance to the side. Just because we may think something is wrong doesn’t mean it is wrong. And just because what we think is right, doesn't make it right. Besides the obvious commandments of God and our church leaders it is not our place to judge or decide what's right from wrong. That's up to the individual. As for change, it is good. It's important to constantly try and be better than we were the day before, but complete change doesn't happen over night. For the most part change happens over time naturally. If you decided to completely change as soon as you put on your name tag I don't think that is necessarily a good thing. You were called of God to the place you are serving because of who you are and the type of personality you have. You are able to connect with someone in your area better than another missionary could somewhere else even though you both have the same purpose. If you force change yourself, I really believe the entire purpose of where you’ve been called has been defeated. Yes, we need to hold ourselves to a high standard, and be good examples but that's different. We are here to share the same joy and happiness the gospel has brought to our lives with other people around the world. Let's focus a little bit less on ourselves and self righteousness and more on the people we are about to teach and bettering ourselves with knowledge of the gospel. Is that not why we all decided to serve in the first place?

Despite the frustration, the doctors appointments, and all the rules. I am still Loving the MTC! I miss you and pray for you guys everyday.

Elder Miller

QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS:

1. How many hours a day do you actually spend learning German?

A LOT! At least half the day. 8 or 9 hours.

2. Have you studied and or learned about the Germany culture at all? 

A little but not much. We know that Germans are hard to crack but once your in, your in with them for life. They are very loyal people. Christmas over there is suppose to be something special too.

3.What has been your favorite talk or spiritual experience so far?

Elder Banks, who use to be of the seventy, gave a really good talk yesterday. Probably the best one we've had since we have been here. We're due for a member of the 12 any day now though.. As for spiritual experience, too many favorites:)

WEEK 2 JULY 1, 2015

Familien!

Wie gehts?! I hope everyone had a fun and safe 4th of July this weekend. They let us stay out till 10:30 to watch the Stadium of fire fireworks so that was cool:) Thank you to all who have written me Dear Elders and letters and sent packages, it seriously means so much! Brother Dees, I read your MTC letter. I'm taking everything to heart and I really appreciate the advice. Mom and dad your guys' package was amazing! And Sister Zaugg Thank you so much for your packages!! AND THE ERICKSON FAMILY... 3 words, are you kidding me... That's actually four but my computer is being weird and won't let me go back to change it BUT THANK YOU! I'm pretty sure there is enough stuff in there to last my full 2 years and then some...  Anyways week 2 in the MTC has come and gone and things are still going great!

Alright here we go! Let me fast forward to Sunday. First fast Sunday here in the MTC! We went about our normal studying then went to church. Elder Day and I taught a killer lesson in priesthood. Sacrament, like I said before, is all in German. I bore my testimony and it was the first time I actually felt comfortable with the language and felt confident with knowing what I wanted to say. So I was feelin pretty hyped about that. After church we did our weekly temple walk. We usually make our way over there at 3:45. If anyone was wondering when they could "run into me" ;) 

Monday: Service day. And I thought I had the worst job last week.. This week Elder Day and I were assigned to the... Bathrooms... Now all of you that know me, know that I will sit and scrub scuff marks off air conditioners ALL DAY, before I scrub nasty toilets for an hour. But ya know we made the most of it and had fun with it. Elder Day dropped all of the clean rags in the toilet in our first bathroom so things could only go up from there. 

Tuesday: Choir and devotional day. Choir was great as usual, our instructor was really funny. The devotional was given by Brother Condie of the seventy and it was amazing! 

I have some WEDNESDAY WISDOM for y'all. Flashing back to Sunday and the lesson Elder Day and I taught about Enduring to the end. It can be interpreted so many ways. But it's suppose to be interpreted one way. ENJOY to the end. So often we, including myself (and especially on the mission) can see enduring to mean a constant struggle and/or trials, but it's not suppose to be like that. Yes of course those things are going to happen, but they are truly required to know what real happiness is. Life is SO good. Focus on the good things and I promise they will overshadow the bad. When those trials and struggles do happen, which they will... "COME WHAT MAY AND LOVE IT." They are for a reason. That's the best quote and the best way to explain it. 

I love you all so much.

Until next week,

Elder Müller

QUESTIONS AND ANWERS!
1. Have you been able to visit with or hang out with any friends you know from home?

    I've actually seen quite a few people from home. I don't really get to "hang out" because we are           always so busy and most likely on different schedules. But yes, occasionally we will stop and 

    talk for a bit.

2. Do you know exactly when you will be leaving for Berlin and if so what date, airline, and cities will you be traveling through to get there?

    We are set to depart extremely early on August 4th. Delta Airlines. We will connect in JFK (NewYork City) and then fly to Paris before arriving in Berlin. Apparently we will be able to see the Eiffel Tower from the airport so I am very excited about that!

3. Will you be traveling with any other missionaries from the MTC or will you be making the journey by yourself?

     I will be traveling with all of the Elders going to Berlin - 11 of us.

4. We’ve heard all different opinions about the food at the MTC ranging from awful to great - what is it really like?

     

     For real, the MTC food is not that bad. You have a lot of options.

5. What is your favorite thing to do on P day?

   

    Write to family and friends of course!

6. Will the companion that you have now be leaving soon for the mission field and when that happens will you get to welcome a new missionary into the MTC as your companion?

    No, we arrived here at the MTC on the same day and we will be leaving together on the same day.

   No new Berlin missionaries will arrive until the day we leave. Every 6 weeks a new district comes 

   to the MTC.

Berlin Mission Family

   

Week 1 June 24, 2015

Friends and Family!!

How are you all?! Gosh I miss you guys so much but all is going great here in the MTC! 

Where do I even begin... First off thank you guys so so much for all the letters. You have no idea how much I look forward to reading those at the end of the day. I led the entire zone with TWENTY-ONE LETTERS IN THE FIRST WEEK. I think the next closest was like four... I get made fun of for it but I will gladly be made fun of for that so keep it up;) Okay so here we go..

Wednesday: Day 1. honestly such a blur, got my name tag went to class couldn't understand cause all that was being said was in German.. 

Thursday: Study with some more studying.

Friday: First time teaching on a practice investigator. To make a long story short it was awful. Had no idea what was being said or what to say. But I still loved it. We got to meet our mission president and his wife too because they are here preparing just like us! I LOVE THEM. They are so funny and have so much personality. President Fingerle legit looks like an exact replica of Robin Williams. He talks just like him too, just with a German accent.

Saturday: More studying again.. We taught the investigator again and it went a lot better. I could actually understand a lot of what he was saying and I was even able to respond a few times:)

Sunday: Sundays are just the best. It's a nice break. We still have some studies but it's less intense. Went to church, sacrament is all in German. 

Monday: Woke up an hour early to do service at 6. I had the worst job by far.. They gave me this "magic eraser" and I had to erase like scuff marks off the all white air conditioners in every classroom. The eraser was NOT, in fact,  magic at all - it didn't do anything. I scrubbed and scrubbed and scrubbed and nothing happened. I felt so unaccomplished. I do actually feel like I gained about 10 pounds of muscle in my right arm though so that's pretty tight I guess.

Tuesday: Tuesday was fun! We studied in the morning and in the afternoon our district decided to do choir. After that we had a devotional from someone of the seventy... Sitaki I think his name was? Anyways he was from Africa and he was a little hard to understand.. But it was still cool. Couldn't sleep last night because I was so excited to talk to everyone! 

I love my district, I love my zone and I love my companion! I didn't think I would at first to be honest but it ended up all working out. The gift of tongues is real!! I can have full conversations in German and though sometimes it may not be the perfect or exact way to say it, It blows my mind that I have only been here a week and how much I have progressed. I'm sorry I know this first email was kind of weak.I will do it differently in the future. I forgot my Journal back in the room and it's hard to remember everything. I will for sure bring it next time. I will try to get some pictures out a little bit later too! So don't worry about me family:) I love it here. I know there is no better place I could be than here at the MTC. I look forward so much to sharing my experiences with you all these next two years. Thank you all for being such great examples and helping me get to this point in life! Liebst du alles!

The first of many,

Elder Miller

So special to be able to greet the Zauggs & welcome Brody to the MTC!