There are no failures in missionary work. God would never let that happen.
I highly recommend President Eyring's talk called "Recognize, Remember, and Give Thanks." It has changed my whole perspective on life for this week!! I am
so grateful for everything here!!!!!!!! So here is a list of just a FEW of my gratitude moments and things I am grateful for from the past few days. If time
allowed, this list would be MUCH longer.
- The Russian Language- I am truly falling in love!!! It is so beautiful,even if most people think of it as an angry language! The words within each sentence rhyme because of the way cases work! And if you know me, you know how much I LOVE making up songs and rhyming the lyrics! And everything follows rules! To make a sentence you look at a specif case chart and find out which "rhyme" or "ending" applies to each word. I love these rules and charts because it reminds me of math, and I love math!!! I may have a hard time memorizing things right now, but I'm taking baby steps. Russian. is. the. BEST.
- The Girls on our Floor - Everybody here is sooooo nice! We are like one big family of sister going through the same thing at the same time. The new sisters arrived this weeks which means we are no longer the babies of the Russian family. It feels great! But then again they all have Russian experience and are probably better than me at the language.... But I am so grateful for their sweet, sweet spirits and the gung-ho attitude about missionary work! During gym time, my companions don't like to run, so I do splits with the other sisters. [Side note: By the end of the mission, my abs will be tight. Like unto a dish.] I love going on runs with them and getting to know them better! This morning I went running with a girl from Seattle who previously studied Chinese. Crazy. I am so grateful to know everybody here! They teach me so much!
- Our Investigators - We are currently teaching Maxc and Buktop. I have learned so much from these two! It is easy for me to recognize what my strengths and weaknesses are while teaching because we are forced into a real situation with real people and real Russian! I am so grateful for these lessons because it has given me a small taste for what lies ahead! I have learned that one of my weaknesses is to be passive while teaching. Because I have 2 other companions, they always have something to say. I need to step up my game, and be proactive at learning Russian phrases confidently so I can say things instead of letting my companions do all the work.
- We have Agency, but Limited Options - Alright, this may sound awful, but it is truly a blessing!!! Let me explain. Here at the MTC we have schedules, yet we still can plan a lot of what we do with our time. In the cafe, we only have about 5 options of what we can eat. In the morning I can decided between my black skirt, or my brown skirt. We go to bed at 10:30 and wake up at 6:30. Everyday. Now all of this may seem like negative things, so why would Sister Miller put it on her Gratitude list? Because instead of spending all day long focusing on things of the world, we can center our lives around "Our Purpose!" This has allowed me to view everything with an eternal perspective! And I love it! The things that matter most in life are the the things that are eternal. Jacob 2:18. D&C 25:10
- Fast Sundays - My absolute favorite day of each month! I always feel the spirit so strongly and I can tangibly feel the testimonies of those around me! My major take away from this past Sunday was about Faith. If I want to increase any aspect of my faith, (which there are many....) I need to first increase my faith in Jesus Christ. He is the center of everything! Through the power of the Atonement, ANYTHING is possible. I know this is true and I am so grateful for the blessing of the Atonement in my life!
- Laughter - OH. MY. GOODNESS. My abs will definitely be tight like unto a dish in the near future! I laughed to the points of tears, several times this week!!! Funniest. Thing. Ever. On Friday my companion Sister Taylor get us each an orange cream Popsicle. On her first bite, her tongue got stuck to the Popsicle. I laughed at her soooo hard!! Later I carefully took my first lick. No problems or stickage. So I dive into my popsicle and BOOM. Guess who's lip gets stuck! Karma!! I pull it away and we all laughed it off. But apparently I didn't learn my lesson because guess who's lip got stuck again. And when I say stuck, I really mean STUCK. And this time it was both lips. This Popsicle was not coming off!!! By now my companions are rolling in laughter and people from other tables in the cafe are pointing and laughing at me as well. I finally ripped off the popsicle and a big chunk of my skin came off with it! Apparently my lip was bleeding profusely. This was the most excitement our district had seen in days! It was quite the event and we all were laughing.
- The Book of Mormon - I have such a strong testimony of this book! I know that it is the word of God and it can be a source of modern and personal revelation for each of us. Every time i read from it, I hunger to know even more truth! It always makes me want to be a better person and be proactive in serving others! Since I have been here at the MTC I felt so much guidance from it! It has helped my learn the things that I need to hear and has helped me receive guidance on what to teach my investigators. I know that the Book of Mormon has increased my faith because it is centered around the Savior, Jesus Christ and is evidence that he lives! His works never end. And His words will never cease.
Thank you everybody for your support and emails! I love you all very much!
My testimony is growing everyday here! The MTC is awesome!
I love you all so much!
- Sister Miller
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