October 24, 2016 - Another normal week

Our email time got shortened this week because our P-Day is

Elder Miles

actually going to be tomorrow. So this email will be a little bit shorter. We get to go to the temple again and so our P-Day was switched so that way we don't miss too much proselyting time. This last week was just another normal missionary week though. Nothing crazy or too exciting happened, except that it rained every day. I love this area up here. 

The two coolest things we got to do this week was first, we got to teach Mario again! We called him and we set up a lesson for Friday and when we got there he first tried to give us coffee, so there's a small obstacle, but after that we had a really good lesson with them. We taught him and his kids and the spirit was super strong. At the end when we invited him to be baptized he said that he wasn't going to promise anything right then because he wanted to spend some time with it. He wanted to take it seriously, which is really good. 

Widening the path

Then the other thing we got to do was do service for a horseback riding for those with disabilities company. We helped to widen their riding trail and cleaned it up a little. It was super fun and we got to take pictures with the horses afterwards. That's all I've got time for this week. Sorry!

-- 

Elder Miles

Washington Yakima Mission

"All of us with a horse."  Elder Miles is the 3rd from the left and Elder Gaeta is the 2nd from the right.

October 17, 2016 – East Wenatchee

Okay, so I'm running low on time for emailing so this email is going to be a little shorter. I'm really starting to adjust to Wenatchee. It's honestly super awesome! It's rained a lot the past few days and it sits in these amazing mountains. It's kinda like Park City, but the city is built on the mountains. There isn't really much of a valley. It's super amazing though.

The ward is great! It's pretty small. Probably the smallest group I've been in, but it's strong. The members are great! 2 of the 3 members of the bishopric are white, and there are like 2 white families, but they are all awesome! There are a few families from Ecuador in the ward, so that's kinda nice. 

My district covers all of East Wenatchee and the towns of Cashmere and Leavenworth. The sister training leaders and another set of Elders are in my district. I went this last week on exchanges with the elders up to Cashmere and Leavenworth and they were amazing. I forgot my camera but Leavenworth is absolutely beautiful. I highly recommend looking it up. It's like a little German town sitting in the mountains.

We've met some really cool people this past week. Our area is interesting. There are quite a few Hispanics but they are spread out quite a ways, so you really have to be thorough when you find. Last night we taught a guy named Mario. His whole family was there, but he just sat outside with us and we talked for a little. At the end he told us that he would love to learn more, and that the next time we go over he wants us to sit down with his whole family and teach them all. I'm pretty excited for him and his family. 

I'm excited about this upcoming week! Sorry I know it's kinda vague I don't have time for much more! Love you!

-- 

Elder Miles

Washington Yakima Mission

October 10, 2016 – El area

So this week we spent a little bit more time exploring our

Scenery pic of Wenatchee from East Wenatchee

area. Elder Gaeta has only been here one transfer longer than I have and our area is pretty huge. We cover a portion of East Wenatchee and then three small towns on the outskirts called Entiat, Orondo, Waterville. Elder Gaeta has only been to each of those once and since our area isn't super populated with Hispanics, we did a little exploring elsewhere. The other towns are pretty small and have some scattered Mexicans there but not as many as we were hoping. Our area is pretty awesome though. It's a little more spread out than my last two areas and so we don't do a whole lot of walking. Which means I get to drive!! It's so nice to be consistently driving again. We drive a 2016 Ford Fusion, so we got a pretty nice hookup. 

The bridge pics came as we were cleaning up
the trails by the river for service.

We met this guy in Orondo named German who is honestly pretty awesome. He had a lot of really good questions and the Restoration really seemed to make sense to him. We have another lesson set up with him this coming Wednesday. We also met a really cool guy last night named Evaristo who knew specifically what a prophet does. Most people we talk to say that a prophet is someone who shares the word of God, but Evaristo understands that a prophet is much more than that. That a prophet is someone who speaks with God because he has the authority to do so. It was really cool to see that and then he asked where the prophets were, which of course led greatly into the Restoration. It was a really awesome lesson and I'm really excited to see where he goes. 

So the ward I work with covers all of Wenatchee and East

A shack in Orondo that's pretty sweet looking.

Wenatchee and there are 10 missionaries that work in the ward. The ward has about 50 active members with like 10-15 of those being white people that speak Spanish. It seems like a great ward! It's small but it's definitely powerful. Listening to some of the testimonies yesterday was pretty amazing. That's been one of my favorite parts of the mission. To have the chance to listen to the testimonies of so many converts is honestly amazing! It's helped to build my testimony so much. 

On Saturday we had a zone training meeting and the zone leaders asked if I would give a training on overcoming doubts. So I focused my training on looking at doubts as a blessing rather than as something to be ashamed of. Satan wants us to feel like our doubts make us weak, but there were two amazing things I found that shows just how important it is that we recognize those doubts. The first was a quote from Henry B Eyring in the April conference. He said "Those who are saddened by the loss of the joy they once had are the blessed ones. Some do not see the withering of faith within themselves. Satan is clever. He tells those he wishes to be miserable that the joy they once felt was childish self-delusion." Satan wants us to be miserable, so he tells us that everything we believe is a lie, but in reality struggling a little allows us to grow, and this shows that those who recognize their doubts (will be blessed) but with what are they blessed?

In Ether 12:37 it explains what the blessing is that comes from recognizing those doubts. It says "And because thou hast seen thy weakness thou shalt be made strong, even unto the sitting down in the place which I have prepared in the mansions of my Father." So the blessing we receive from recognizing our doubts, or our weaknesses, is that those weaknesses will become strong and we will rest in the mansions of God. I know that our doubts can be scary, but if we act on our doubts, and study and pray in faith, then we can make those doubts into strengths. 

That's it for the week! Love you all! 

-- 

Elder Miles

Washington Yakima Mission

October 3, 2016 - Cafe Rio!

Mission office staff: Sister and Elder Call, Me, Elder
and Sister Thompson.  They're honestly so great!
Had to make sure to get a pic with them before the
end of the year when they finish their missions. 

Well, I got to Wenatchee this week and there's a Cafe Rio here! And yup we've already been to it. We went in-between Saturday's sessions, and it was soooo good. I got a classic pulled pork salad, cause I needed to have that ranch. That was definitely a huge highlight for the week, of course other than General Conference. 

The Garcia and Verduzco families!
Coolest families in the branch! 
Sister Garcia,Diana, Jessica, Sister Verduzco,
 Elizabeth, Laura,and Erika. 

General Conference was so cool though! I honestly love being a missionary and watching conference. I'm not sure that conference will ever be the same. You get so hyped to watch conference that every talk just blows your mind. I loved conference and I would have to say that my favorite talk was President Uchtdorf's Saturday morning session talk. He said "We tread a path covered with diamonds, but we can scarcely distinguish them from ordinary pebbles." When I heard this it kinda hit me about how often we don't look hard enough at what we have. We often look beyond the mark and we become too focused on the little things, but we don't recognize the beauty of the things around us.

The kids that came to church with us that last 
Sunday - Manny, Me, Jr, Chewy, and Anthony
Their sister didn't want to be in the pic

So, a little about my area now. My new companion is Elder Ruben Geata and he's way awesome! He's is a convert of about two or so years and has given up a professional BMX biking career to be out here on a mission. He's won several world championships and was like the leading edge for bikers before he came on his mission. He's a super awesome Elder and is about 21. He came out on his mission a transfer after I did. I'm still District Leader here and I have another set of Elders and the Sister Training Leaders in my district. I'm super stoked to be here. It's a super pretty area and I can't wait to get going. This week was a little different because of conference so we didn't get a whole lot of teaching done, but it looks good. The area I cover is a little richer so finding the Hispanics will be a little harder, but I'm excited. We also cover three little towns outside of Wenatchee, they're called Orondo, Waterville, and Entiat. 

​This is the Dominguez family. David, me, Uriel, 
Arnulfa, Uziel, and Gael. He's the new Elders Quorum 
President and is killing it! His family has only 
been in the church for a few short years, and 
now they're getting sealed in October! 

Its weird being here, and I miss Yakima, but I'm way excited to start new here and get things moving.

Love you all!

-- 

Elder Miles

Washington Yakima Mission

Daniel Santos. Elder Harman and I were working with him for 3 months until our area got split, and he is now being taught by the other elders. While we were saying goodbye he taught us the Restoration and killed it. His testimony is super solid!

Reyna. She works at Salvation Army and got baptized after she met the missionaries that were doing service. She's so awesome!

The Contreras family! Aurora, Crystal, Me, Oscar -
their son didn't want to be in the pic