WEEK 9 AUGUST 24th, 2015

Wie gehts fam! 

    First off, I would just like to wish my wonderful Momma a happy birthday! I wish I could celebrate with you but I am there in spirit and hope you had the best day:) 

Anyways just another faaantastic week here in Deutschland. I'm ready for August to end. Not my favorite month of the year! 

    Allrightty well we started this week out with a bang! Tuesday evening we decided to go for a run. Elder Hein was waiting for me outside and as I came out and shut the door he says "you got the keys right?" I most definitely did not have the keys. Thus we were locked out of our apartment. To make a long story short, hours later we got ahold of a phone and called a lock pick dude and he got us in but charged us 120 euros. Then another lock pick dude showed up a little later and he wanted 90 euros for just showing up!! The thing was Elder Hein called two but the first guy said he couldn't come for 2 hours so he called another and he could come right away. He called and cancelled the first one and that guy still showed up. We told him we wouldn't pay him. He said fine, I will send a bill and then if you don't pay that the law will come after you! We just said okay. It was 12:30 a.m. and we just wanted to sleep. We couldn't have payed if we wanted to because the last guy took every last euro we had. We're just missionaries for petes sake. 

    Anyway, on Thursday. We got to go to Berlin for a mission conference. Berlin is the coolest and it was so fun to be with a bunch of other elders. We got to walk around the city for a little while before our train came.

    Friday was the best! Elder Hein and I taught an English class at the church and lots of people came! A couple of them were just people we talked to in the street and didn't think they would come but they did. It's so funny and great to see them try so hard to learn. After, we had a ping pong tournament. So Nick if you thought you were gonna get the upper hand on me while I'm gone, you can think again;)  

    We're gonna have to push Lee's baptism back a week because he wants to do it at the same time as his friend Josh but Josh has been sick all week so we need to get him caught up to where Lee is at. We're having good lessons with some other people as well that I'm pretty stoked about! 

We took out bikes for the first time hahah! It was fun but we're not doing it again. That's pretty much all the big news for this week. 

     My faith and patience have been tested these past few days. It was a little bit of a tough week but that just means I have to work harder. Not that Elder Hein and I don't absolutely work our tails off everyday, but to receive what we desire, we have to work extremely hard. We have to be willing to work harder than anyone else. That's how it is in the mission and long after the mission. Hard work is a trait that is essential for success. I believe my mission is and will continue to throw everything at me to prepare me for life. 

Weekly struggles: 

Locked out of our apartment...

Weekly triumphs: 

My money managing skills since being locked out and losing €120 to the locksmith.

I miss you all a whole lot.

Mit liebe,

Elder Miller 

Me and Andreas

Bikes were fun but too hilly and too crowded!

WEEK 8 AUGUST, 18th 2015

Hi family!

    It's been a good second week here in Schwerin! Nobody works as hard as Elder Hein and I:) Hah and I thought I was tired at the MTC all the time... We walk for daayyyss. We have bikes but ehhh. We take trains and buses. Anytime I hop on a train or bus you can best bet that I'll be out cold in less than 2 minutes. Hahah Elder Hein says the same thing every time to wake me up " Elder Miller wakey wakeyyy this is our stop!" Anyways, nothing too crazy this week but some exciting things! 

    Found a couple new investigators this week which is awesome. It's a little difficult to find new people to teach. The members in Germany don't really like to help too much with that stuff as far as talking about the gospel with their friends. So that's why we have to do more street contacting than we would like. We just don't get that many references. 

    Big time news for Lee: He hasn't smoked or drank for 4 consecutive weeks!  I love that guy:) We pray hard that he stays strong because he finally committed to being baptized! We got him set up for the 28th of this month! Hahah he says were only allowed to have 6 people come to his baptism though because he is "shy". We kinda jokingly argued with him and said there's no way that's possible because there will be a lot of people that want to come and support him but we finally caved and just said fine. That includes him, Elder Hein & I, and the bishop so we get to invite 2 people. I'm pretty sure there will be quite a few more people than 6 but we will see what happens with that I guess. 

    It's Holiday here in Germany so a lot of people are gone on vacation. But they should be back in a couple weeks! That means a little more study time. We study for at least 4 hours a day... and that's minimum. I learn so much. Kinda makes me sick because it makes me think if I would have studied this hard and well back in school I would have a full freakin ride to Harvard. Makes me excited for when I get back home and go to school and actually apply myself. Anyways, the more and more I read the Book of Mormon and the Bible the more true it gets. Anyone who doubts it, just read for yourself. The ACTUAL scriptures. Don't Google anything or use the Internet and find someone else's silly, ignorant, anti Mormon website and use that as reference to disprove... Seriously. That's ridiculous. And that happens too much. Develop your OWN opinions. The bible and Book of Mormon testify of one another! 

Ezekiel 37:16-17: Moreover, thou son of man, take thee one stick, and write upon it, for Judah, and for the children of Israel his companions: then take another stick, and write upon it, for Joseph, the stick of Ephraim, and for all the house of Israel his companions. And join them one to another into one stick: and they shall become one in thine hand. 

Weekly difficulties: 

The German language. I was about ready to rip up my language book and throw it out my apartment window the other day I was getting so frustrated. 

Had some gnarly headaches this week too - that's not fun either.

Everyone and their dog smokes here. It's really really bad. I don't know if I'm gonna make it home before I die of second hand smoke. 

Weekly triumphs: 

Lee!!!

Played soccer this week. Yeah, I still got it;) 

I love you all so much and miss you! The mission is hard. It's really really hard. But I think that's one of the reasons why I love it. I wanna send some packages home with some stuff I just can't yet because it's balls hot. But it is cooling! So hopefully soon.

Keep on keepin on,

Elder Miller 

QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS!

1. WHAT IS THE FOOD LIKE IN GERMANY?

  There are a lot of different things. There is something called döner that I love! It is a kind of a sandwich and is made with beef. Pretzels from bakeries!

WHAT IS YOUR AREA LIKE?

Our area is super big! It is beautiful here. We see the castle all the time! The streets are very crowded which is why we don't ride bikes.

Week Deutschland!

Hi guys:)

I am finally in the wunderbar country of Deutschland! I honestly don't even know where to start. It's so beautiful here. Beyond beautiful. The trees, the houses, the ports. everything. I absolutely love it. This week has been nuts so I'm just going to fast forward to Tuesday when we left the MTC. 

Sooo we left at 6 in the morning blah blah blah, 3 flights and 20 hours later we arrive in Berlin. We get to baggage claim and I wait a while and only one of my bags comes through. Suddenly the conveyer belt shuts off. I turn around and I notice 6 other missionaries hadn't yet got their bags either. To make a long story short I guess AirFrance didn't feel like putting 12 of our bags on the flight with us. Some got no bags,  I was lucky to get one. Unfortunately, it was my winter suitcase they decided to send so... Heavy coats and thermals aren't really my choice clothing for the summer. Needless to say, I've been wearing the same sweaty white shirt, socks and suit the past 4 days,  EWWW! Luckily that suitcase had a couple extra pairs of garments so its bearable. Anyway, for the fun part, Präsident Fingerle picked us up in a Mercedes bus and took us to a town called Radeberg. He took us to the exact spot where Thomas S. Monson dedicated the land of East Germany during the division in 1985. It was way cool. After that he surprised us and took us to the Freiburg Temple! It's under Renovation and they are expanding it but it was still so amazing. We even got to go inside. Since the Freiburg temple was one of the only temples in Eastern Europe, they have a hotel right on the temple grounds owned by the church so that people who came from far away had a place to stay. So we literally got to spend the night at the temple! Like I said, it's normally closed but they opened it up specially just for us:)

Thursday: We got assigned our new companions! Mine is Elder Hein from Cedar City Utah. He's a stud. He just got released as a zone leader before being assigned to be my trainer. He's been out for a year and a half. I'm serving with him in a town kinda way up north called Schwerin. It takes 6 hours by train to get there from where we were previously in Freiburg and one of our trains was late. If we took it we wouldn't have gotten back to our apartment until at least midnight so we stopped half way and spent the night in Berlin with the AP's. This was way fun because they have a car and a really nice big apartment:) 

Friday: We all woke up at 6 and went to play soccer at a nearby field. It was great - the field was so nice! Except I was sucking wind and about a measly five minutes in I was dying. After that we went back, showered and Elder Hein and I got on the train to Schwerin for real this time. We got there about 12:30, went grocery shopping and planned. Elder Hein gave me a rundown of all the investigators. I'm walking into an area where they have FIVE baptismal dates. 4 are strong! We are unsure about the commitment of one but we still expect to baptize all 5:) That just means I gotta step my game up a bit:) Germany Berlin Mission ---> GBM ---> Greatest baptizing mission. It's true. Later we went and street contacted but nobody was really feelin' us. 

Saturday: There's a park right next to our apartment and Elder Hein took me through one of his work outs. It was a lil rough but all good. After that we headed out for my first real appointment ever! His name is Jannick and he's the coolest dude. He's 25 and he believes everything in the Book of Mormon and he believes all of the principles of the church except baptism. He says he's just interested in following Christ and doesn't know why he needs to do the action of being baptized. We tried explaining the gift of the Holy Ghost and how it is making a special covenant when you are baptized but we weren't getting through to him so we need to figure something out. We will keep working:) After that we had dinner at a members home and I would be lying if I told you I had a clue of what happened or what was said. They all spoke SO fast so I just ate my chicken and nodded and smiled at everything.. And last but not least I met my favorite people so far. Josh and Lee. They are the funniest college guys you will ever meet. They are from China and speak English but with a very heavy accent and mix up their words sometimes. They are reading the Book of Mormon and Lee believes it but Josh says he is still asking God to know if it's true!

Sunday: I had to introduce myself to the ward. They were all laughing at one point so I must have said something wrong because I didn't have any funny lines in my talk... But everyone is so nice. We have about 50 members in the ward and they are all really strong. The next closest meeting building is in a town called Rostock which is an hour away so many of these people travel a long way to come to church.

Weekly struggles:

Russell M. Nelson of the 12 spoke at the MTC the day we left. I was there for 6 weeks and didn't get to hear one apostle speak - July is apostle vacation month I guess.

I don't get my bag until Thursday. Kinda need that now. It will be 9 days.

Got a haircut the day before I left for Germany. I asked for just a light trim and the next thing I know she's buzzin it all off. I blame myself for that one.... 

Weekly triumphs: 

Monday: First P-day!

Our apartment is totes rad and clean!

My first week here has been great. I am so blessed to have been called to this beautiful country. The people are so great. I can't understand or speak very well in German, but when you have the language of the spirit down that's all you need:) Sorry this email is so long. I'm done! Oh but one more thing I got my new address and I love to receive letters:) Soo.. 

Elder Noah William Miller

Müller Straße #30 

Schwerin, Germany 19053

No that is not a B in "Straße" write it like it looks! 

The church is true! Auf Wiedersehen!

Elder Miller 

Elder Miller is in Germany!

A letter from Elder Miller's Mission President arrived today!  Here it is below, along with the pic!

7 August 2015

Dear Family Miller, 

We are pleased to announce that your son, Elder Noah William Miller, is safely with us in the Berlin Mission. We have had the opportunity to get to know him, and he is ready and excited to be here. Sister Fingerle and I look forward to working with him and will do all that we can to help him serve a happy and successful mission. Elder Miller’s first companion will be Elder Hein, and they will work together in Schwerin for the next several weeks. If you would like to send letters to your missionary, please send them to the mission office address:

Elder Miller

Kirche Jesu Christi HLT

Zerbsterstrasse 42

12209 Berlin

Germany

We have all discussed the mission goals and agreed that we will start right, work hard, and finish strong in order to fulfill our purpose to invite others to come unto Christ.

We, along with your son, appreciate the support which you give through your weekly letters and daily prayers in his behalf. Thank you for raising your son so that he can be part of this amazing work.

For a glimpse inside the mission, including occasional pictures of your missionary, you can check the blog we maintain at http://germanyberlinmission2015-18.blogspot.com.  I’ve included a picture of Elder Miller, his companion, Elder Hein, Sister Fingerle, and me.

May the Lord bless you in all that you do.

Sincerely,

Christian H. Fingerle, President

Germany Berlin Mission