Tanti Auguri! December 30, 2009

December 30, 2009 I LOVE being a missionary. This Christmas was one I will never forget. It was different, because in all honesty, I hardly thought about myself. I never realized how selfish I was. We spent some of our personal money to make a Christmas box full of food for a family who lives by us in or ward. They moved here from Africa about 10 years ago. Anna, her husband is dead. Anna still cannot read. They live in a tiny little apartment, that is very very scarce. You walk in and have to hold your breath because it stinks so bad, and there are flies everywhere. WE delivered the box on Christmas Eve, and saw it out on their table on Christmas night when we were with them. I wrapped up all those scarves you sent me mom, and gave them to Anna and her three daughters. I gave some of my clothes to the other daughters. We brought them the only Christmas presents they had. I had to fight back my tears as I watched them open them and be so excited. It is amazing what the gospel has done for them. They joined the church here in Siracusa about two years ago and are strong members. These people have nothing, but they do have what a lot of people don't have and that is the knowledge that we have a Heavenly Father who loves us and wants us to return to Him. We played games with them and it really was an experience I will never forget. They only have three chairs, and they make us sit in them when we go over and visit them, and the rest of the family sits around their little kitchen table on the floor. As soon as we left on Christmas night, I burst into tears. It was just really hard to see people in such difficult circumstances on Christmas but I know that they are happy because they have the gospel. It is a lesson for all of us. Christmas this year was so different than any other Christmas, but it was probably the best one of my life. We also go and teach Anna to read. Mom, I was wondering if there is anything you could tell me about how to teach people to read. She can't really distinguish the difference between how letters have the "sound" they make, and that you just don't read words by saying the letter.. I don't know. We went Christmas caroling in Ortiga with the Elders, and a few members in the ward in a little Island called Ortiga. It is sweet! We also go prosylyte there on Sunday nights, and we always find people because it is the hot spot of Siracusa at night time. It is like old time Italian, and it has some beautiful architecture, and great shopping and stuff. It's barely separated to be called an island but it is. So, Sunday night we did some hard core finding in Ortiga. The first half hour I couldn't open my mouth ha ha super frustrating, but its really intimidating and harder than it sounds to just go up to people ( most of the time surrounded by a giant statue of some Saint, or in front of some giant cathedral) and talk to someone about God. But finally when I got over my pride, and got the courage, I just started talking, and then it was all good. The first people I talked to were just two women, and then they were just smiling, because a lot of people just think we're cute american girls and don't really care. But I just started testifying that families can be together forever, then before I knew it, their whole Italian family was listening, and we were talking to like 12 people gathered around me ha ha ha I just couldn't stop smiling looking at them all, and in the end, I asked to come by another time, and they were just like nahhh hyahah oh well. At least I know that my testimony grows stronger every time I testify of God and His love for us. Last night we did "HOUSE" for the first time. We both kinda got a feeling to go into this certain apartment because all three of our appointments fell through so we had 3 hours to kill. We got into the apt, and just started knocking. We ended up teaching a kid who I hope was interested genuinely. Wow, that is scary. Then on our way out of the apartment we ran into two men, one with a giant dog that jumped on me and I screamed (this dog was like 5 feet tall) I'm not even kidding it scared me to death then another guy who was just leaving. So for the first time I think on the mission I "felt" something" I needed to talk to this other guy the one WITHOUT a dog. Sometimes it is frustrating to feel the spirit and then people choose not to accept to hear the message, but I know that maybe one day people will. This week we went twice to the "Questura" to get me legalized. Most everything is done. We have been visiting a lot of members lately and delivering them two copies of "The Living Christ" and reading it with them. We have not given it to one member yet, who had seen it before. It is such a beautiful testimony of Jesus Christ, and I feel the spirit every time I read it. We challenge people to share it with a friend. That is another thing I am learning on the mission, is how important and vital members are to missionary work. Please share the gospel with your friends. Go with missionaries to teach people. I cannot say how valuable it has been for us to have Italians here with Italians when we teach people. If nothing else, the mission is helping me set a pattern of a lifetime of being a missionary. I will never be the same.

I love you all and hope you have a Happy New Year. I know that we have the gospel of Jesus Christ here on the earth. We have 12 apostles, and a Living Prophet to lead and guide us. There is hope when we have difficult times. We have a Savior who has been in our shoes. He is the only one who completely understands. We have the knowledge of the gospel of Jesus Christ, that we can repent, and be made clean again. The gospel is a lifelong process of change and improvement and that is just evidence that God loves us. He always allows us to repent. We have been given so much, and therefore, we have so much to give to others. The Savior lived every day of his life devoted to helping other people. I felt a little of how He was his whole life this last Christmas. He gave, and never expected anything in return. I pray we can all try to be more like him. I love you all, Sorella Miller

The restaurant picture was taken the first night when I met my companion. The other picture is about a block from our apartment. Siracusa is a beautiful city.

Audguri E Buon Natale! Dec. 23, 2009

Sorry about last week everything was closed when we got kicked out of the cafe. Last week we got Paula to commit to a date for baptism and it lasted one day. She called us the next day and was very depressed and stressed that she would mess up after getting baptised. Every day she usually succumbs to one cigarette. It is better that she wait until she knows she is "ready" to be baptized rather than do anything when she has not completely quit smoking. It is amazing to see the gospel change her. She used to smoke 4 packs a day, she is so much more calm even since the day I met her. She comes to church and loves the spirit that the Book of Mormon brings. She has three children with two different dads, so we only are able to see her 11 year old son Lorenzo on the weekends, except for this week he is at her house for Christmas all week so we have been over there every day and are able to teach him. He is the most incredible 11 year old I have ever me. HE tells us mid-lesson that he feels the Spirit, and he loves reading the Book of Mormon. We are hoping his father will give him permission to be baptised. He is going to be a strong member of the Church. They both are strengthening their relationship with each other through their coming unto Christ. The gospel really does bless families. Paula had studied with Jehovah Witnesses before she met us, and so she still has a lot of friends that try to get her to not get baptized, but she tells us all the time she knows the church is true. It is such a testimony to me every time we meet with her, that the gospel is the only church on the earth that has all the truth. Since I have been on my mission, I have gained such a strong testimony of the restoration, it is what makes us different from anyone else. We are teaching this lady who has been catholic for the last 70 years, and whenever we go and say a prayer with her, she must recite her prayers also. She has a hard time grasping that we can just say whatever we feel in our hearts to our Heavenly Father, He loves us and it is a simple and direct communication. We have a lot of teaching right now. We see the Lord putting people in our path every day. President really wants us to focus on working with the members. Our branch is small, but we have some really strong people. Everyone here is a first generation member, so they are small in numbers but strong. Sorella Morgan and I have been doing visits with members and sharing with them "The Living Christ" and challenged them to share it with a friend. We teach almost all our lessons with a member with us, and that is the key. Italians trust Italians. There are a million Jehovah Witnesses here and they love to just get in your face . Some people we meet ask "Why are you here?" We are all believing in the same God. I have thought a lot about that, why am I here? Well I am here to invite other people to come to Christ, to have a reason to live day to day. To show people that we have a book, that tells us how to have happy marriages, how to raise our children, how to feel happy when hard times come, to be able to cope with death, to be able to know where I came from and where I am going. This is definitely the hardest thing I have ever done, but so worth it, for the moments where I am able to tell someone I KNOW that they can pray, and that God will hear their prayer. Men here are really aggressive. Actually its quite obnoxious sometimes. WE get honked at at least 30 times a day, and basically we just stay away from men here. We have been followed a few times, so its pretty creepy. We also have a little old man that lives by us known for many years by the Sister missionaries in Siracusa as the "Spanker man". I literally had to run away from him when we passed by him the other day! ha ha he is so creepy he just stares at our back sides,... if you will, and we hold our Book of Mormons over our bums and take a run for it! HA HA its pretty funny. There are catholic Saint celebrations once a week here it is so crazy to be here where catholocism isn't just a "part" of the culture, it IS the culture. But there are a lot of the younger generations whose families are catholic and they don't really do anything that makes them catholic. The gospel is true, It is individual. Even if we were the only people on the earth, I know Jesus Christ would still have come and lived a perfect life, and died and would perform the atonement for me because He loves each of us THAT much. I have felt his love so much over these last three months, and I continue to see it change other people. God has prepared a perfect plan for us, and we are so blessed to have this knowledge. I hope everyone is well, I can't wait to talk soon on Christmas! Love Sorella Miller

December 16, 2009 The Hardest, Craziest, Longest, Most Overwhelming, Most emotional, Most Wonderful Week of My Life!

Last Thursday was the first real day, because we arrived on a pday. We Taught English class, which was super fun. I taught the basis class and people love hearing Americans because we can actually speak English. We taught the Last English class until mid-January, but that is apparently a big tool of finding people. We teach twice a week in the church. The church is only about 5 minutes from our apartment. It is freezing in the church. When we are out talking to people, and 90% of the time they don't want to talk about religion, this is a way to keep them as a friend. We teach free English class and they hear a spiritual thought at the end of the class. There were some awesome people there and we've had a lot of investigators come out of these English classes. The language it is crazy. The only way to distinguish between Sicilian and Italian is if it sounds ugly, it's Sicilian, If it's beautiful its Italian! I never understand Sicialian really, It is a complete separate language. On Friday we went to an office on a little island for my collega to get her visa fixed because it was stolen from her. She was feeling a bit under the weather and she was too sick to work anymore so you can imagine I am like this little ball of energy wanting to talk to everyone in sight and we went home and she slept, I just didn't really know what to do with myself. I was pretty much a wreck. The next day her voice was gone and the same thing. Basically my first two days on my mission. I was super frustrated. We are learning to get along and things are on an upward scale of improvement. We have one progressing investigator. Her name is Paula and she has been investigating for about 2 months. She has almost quit smoking, has three kids from three different men.. She has come so far, and her son Lorenzo we are also hoping to get a baptismal date. He is 11. We teach him only on the weekends because he is with his dad for most of the week. She is without work, and doesn't have a lot. We are able to teach and feel the spirit with them. Lorenzo loves reading the Book of Mormon and its incredible when we visit them. We walk pretty much everywhere, its a pretty small city , not really busses. I went on splits with the sisters in Catania today. OK we are getting kicked out of this internet cafe so I'm going to send this . Sorry................."

Ciao da Siracusa!

"Ciao familglia! I arrived at the mission home sometime yesterday I think I missed the 7th ma..va bene so we were greeted at the airport by the mission president and his wife. Then we went straight to a gelateria. In Catania it is a tradition for the arriving missionaries. It was so incredible. So I started the first day off in the mission with Italian Gelato, and Italian Pizza. My first slice of pizza was also a slice of heaven. The mission home is a beautiful home in Catania with four floors, the bottom floor was the mission office. We then took a walk along the water on a path. It is beautiful here. The Mediterranian Sea it is different than the ocean. It is so calm. There are Christmas lights strung up on most of the streets. It's true that "Sicilian" is a completely different language. There are some Italians who don't even understand the Sicilian, but most who speak Sicilian also can speak Italian. We have a sweet little apartment. My companion Sister Morgan is from LA and we are assigned to the city of Siracusa, it is about 1 1/2 hours south of Catania, Sicily. My collega has been in Sicily her entire mission. Another Anziano who was at the mission home last night told me that Siracusa is one of the highest baptising areas in the mission. Wednesday, after one night in the mission home we took the bus to Siracusa and talked all about the mission. So I hope I can bring some of my exictement to find people. It is beautiful, everything is old and ghetto. There is grafitti all outside our apartment, I love it! Tomorrow we have an appointment with an investigator. I am excited to work hard. The language is crazy but I love just talking to people like I know what they are saying in a nice thick Monica-Italian wannabe accent! I just don't care and am not shy! I am excited to start the real stuff! I know the Lord will qualify me and hopefully I can bring enthusiasm and energy to this city. Exact obedience qualifies me for the Lords help. I love you all.... ci veddiamo"...Sorella Miller

Sorella Monica Miller Arrived Safely at the Salt Lake City, Utah Airport This Snowy December 7, 2009 Morning

Sorella Miller is excited, humble, and prepared to serve! She called today December 7, 2009 from the airport. It was wonderful to talk to her and listen to her testimony in Italian. She asked for friends to write her in Italy. We are so happy for Monica and could feel her desire to serve and "Preach My Gospel". Monica asked, "Please pray for me and for the families in the Italy/Catania Mission" ! We are excited to learn where she will be assigned to begin her service in the mission field. !!! Carry on Monica! .....

December 1 2009...."The Hour of My Mission is Near"

Wow. Ciao famiglia. Words cannot really describe how i'm feeling right now. "Lift up your heart and rejoice, for the hour of your mission is come; and your tongue shall be loosed, and you shall declare glad tidings of great joy unto this people" (DC 31:3) The hour of my mission has come, and I feel like I have been waiting sos long for it to come. I feel incredibly humbled to be a representative of our Savior Jesus Christ. That is one thing I keep thinking of. JOY. As I was in the temple today for my last time today, I was reflectign on what the most "joyous moments" in my life have been. Being with my family in the celestial room in the Temple was definitely one of them. FAMILY. Moments I have had here where I have seen the Lord directing me, answering my prayers, that is what joy is. And that is the whole purpose of life. We were created so we could live happy lives. So that Jesus Christ can give us peace during our hard times we go through, not just take away the hard times. But give us joy in a hard world.

Temple today was awesome. I was so sad to leave. I felt overwhelmed with joy. JAcob 5 kept coming to mind. I am comforetd when I read Jacob 5: 16 " adn it came to pass that the Lord of the Vineyard, and also the servant went down into the vineyard to labor." I know that the LOrd will be with me as i depart to this far away place. I sometimes think that becasue Iam now leaving the MTC, that this is it. No more running into teachers I know, no more millions of missionaries i know....Its now finally--ME. ITALIANS. ALONE. But this scripture brings me a lot of peace. I knw the LORds will be with me every step of my mission. And Im so greatefull for that.

Joseph Smith said "The Lord calls us in our weakness but qualifies us for the work." I have been praying with all my heart that because I have worked hard, and given it my all here in the MTC, that the Lord will somehow qualify me for this callign to teach his lost children.

We had an incredible Thanksgiving week with two Apostles. Elder Dallin H. Oaks came on Tuesday to Devotional, and Elder Holland was there on Thanksgiving morning. Wow. It was so incredible. I was able to sit in the front row when Elder OAks was there, and so was my whole district because of Rebecca's Bishop's Father, PResident Beeson, who is in the MTC presidency came and found me and asked me if he could save our district seats. It was so cool! I definitely got a smile and some direct eye-contact with Elder Oaks. Raddd. Elder Oaks had an incredible talk, and one thing he said, was something he said he often has to remind himself of "No good thing goes un-noticed." It was an awesome week full of th spirit.

Travel Plans: hollllla woooo!!! Here they are, and mom I bought a calling card so no worries about that:

we report to the travel office at 4 am Monday morning, we depart SLC at 7 am on Delta flight 1586. We arrive in Atlanta GA at 12:40 pm

We leave GA. at 3:345 pm I WILL PLAN TO CALL AROUND 1:30 pm from Atlanta....during that layoverm or else if I have time Monday morning depending on what time we get to the airport, but I would plan on when im in atlanta on that layover from 12:45 until 3:45. Then we leave atlanta at 3:45 and go to Rome and arrive in Rome at 7:35 am. We leave Rome at 8:55 am (by this point it is now December 8th! haha a whole day of travel, intense!!!!!!) Then we arrive in CATANIA at 10:10 am on December 8th. i am so excited i seriously cannot wait.

Vi voglio bene la mia famiglia dilletta. Io so con tutto di'l mio cuore, che questa chiese ha tutta la verita del mondo, ha tutta la dottrina pura di Cristo. So che L'Espiazione e per ogn'uno di noi, che possiamo svilluppare gli attribute di Gesu, mediante il pentimento. E una cosa bella il piano che Dio ha fato per noi. Il piano della felliccita e un modo che possiamo essere insiegme con le nostre famiglie per l'eternita. Io sso che Joseph Smith ha tradutto questo vangelo, e che e chiara e semplicce. So che Gesu e il Cristo e che la chiesa di Gesu Cristo dei santi degli ultimigiorni e vero. Vi voglio assai!!!!!

i am so humble to be on this mission. I know i am nothing without God. I picture you, my family, on your knees praying for me when I get discouraged, and it gives me hope. I picture my savior, and think of his atonement, and it gives me hope. Please know I love you, and thank you for your prayers. I love the gospel and I love being amissionary. I look forward to heaaring your voices!!! Ci veddiamo! parleremmo pronto!! -Sorella Miller