Elder John Miller

Elder John Miller

Monday, October 31, 2016

Inlet View Ward, Anchorage, Alaska, Week 3

Malo se  fua

That's Samoan for hello.
I think.
Anyways, this week was nuts, which at this point I think is normal.
But now that I don't seem to ever have time to write my group email I
will try and update you as quickly as possible.

The homeless people here are awesome. We work a lot with them and
they're the coolest people I've ever met. People give us clothes and
boots all the time to hand out to them, so we help the people out as
much as possible. No one cares what you know until they know that you
care, ya know? So we show them we care and talk with them about Jesus.
They have more faith than most of the other people we meet. They  have
a complicated social structure too. They group in families and then
the families have chiefs. It's really hard to keep track of. They talk
to us about the body snatchers all the time too, which freaked me out
because I thought a body snatcher was someone who kidnapped and
murdered people. But it turns out there's people that pick up homeless
people and take them to shelters. There's also a murderer targeting
homeless people in our area, right around the times we walk around
town. Good times.

Wednesday night he fire alarm in our building went off right as I laid
my head down. It scared us super bad and Elder Shurtz fell off the top
bunk of the bunk bed. We put some pajamas on and got out of the
building in less than two minutes. Not a single other person in the
building left. If it had been an actual fire, they'd be dead. But it
wasn't. Us two fat guys have the best response time though.

Then Saturday night we went in to our apartment and it was locked.
That's weird because we never lock our apartment. We tried our keys,
our shoulders, and a foot, and nothing would open the door. So we
figured it was locked from the inside. We called our president, his
wife, and the APs and got no response. So we called the first
councilor in the mission presidency and got permission to call the
cops because we figured someone was in our apartment. After going
through the ridiculously long APD phone tree, four officers showed up
at our apartment. We took them up to the door and they couldn't get it
open. So then we called for permission to bust down the door. Then the
door mysteriously swung open. It scared us all. The cops drew their
pistols and stormed the apartment. It was awesome. Turns out we just
had a stuck door jam. Stories man.

And that's the week. Stay home gold.

Love,
Elder John Miller

Monday, October 24, 2016

Inlet View Ward, Anchorage, Week 1

Howdy!

Hey gang sorry this is so late. It's not going to be much tonight.
We've been running around all day. So the Inlet View area covers all
of downtown and midtown Anchorage which has 90% of the homeless
population of the city. We do a lot of work with the homeless and
poor, and it's the best. The work is great here, we have an
investigator who is getting baptized in March and the ward is on top
of their missionary efforts. It's an awesome place. Everyone who
serves here develops some kid of disease or disorder, so I'm excited
to see what I get. Sorry this email is so short, I'll do better next
week. Love you guys.

Love,
Elder John Miller

Making snow boots for the homeless



Downtown Anchorage

Downtown Anchorage

Elder Schurtz and Elder Miller


The Chili Cook-off Band



Monday, October 17, 2016

Week 19, Homer, Alaska

Howdy,

So this week has been pretty awesome. The biggest news that I have is
that I will yet again be moving. I'm heading back up to Anchorage,
this time on the north side, to serve in the Inlet View ward. Inlet
View covers downtown Anchorage and is one of the fastest moving wards
in the mission. I'm super excited to serve there. This will be my
fourth area, and Elder Schurtz will be my 9th companion. Exciting
times.

I general, this has been a great week. It's nice when you leave on a
great week. Tuesday we had an awesome lesson with Annette and we
talked about about a lot of things, but at the end we invited her to
be baptized on November 12th, and she accepted. Too bad I won't be
here. On Thursday we met with our homie dog Robin and invited him to
be baptized as well. Why is it that areas always start pumping out the
work when I leave them? It's rough.

We had some other crazy experiences this week. One of the big ones is
that it's snowing right now. It started up last night and it hasn't
stopped much since then. I don't think it will last too long, it's
supposed to warm up again later in the week, but winter is on us now.
I love the winter. It's getting dark now too. I'm kind of sad that I
don't get to go back to Fairbanks for the winter, but Anchorage in the
winter is fun too. Lots of ice.

We were able to teach several people this week, and I got to say
goodbye to a lot of people once I learned I'm leaving. I love this
ward, they're such weirdos and it's the best. This is definitely one
of the places I'm going to come back and visit. Also, if anyone wants
a job working on a fishing boat next summer I can try and hook you up.

Next time I email you I'll be in Anchorage. Have a good week everybody!

Love,
Elder John Miller

It's snowing

Mama Dee

Greg and Nicole



Elder Freestone, Elder Allen, Elder Miller

Tuesday, October 11, 2016

Week 17, Homer, Alaska

Howdy,

This week has been crazy. The biggest news is that I now have a second
companion and am in a trio down here in Homer. Elder Allen, the new
guy, is awesome. He's been on his mission for 21 months, so he's
pretty trunky. But he's a really good missionary, so that's nice.

We picked him up on Tuesday afternoon and went to a super scary
lesson, that we thought was going to be a brutal Bible bash (look at
that alliteration) but Elder Allen went in, totally diffused this guy,
answered some questions, and we turned it from a hostile situation
into a Gospel discussion where the Spirit could actually be present.
It was sweet. After that we went to a less active who we told to come
to church. It was a bold day and a pretty bold week. Now we have a new
investigator and a returning less active. That's what's up.

Wednesday we got our investigator George to actually progress which
was super cool. The power of the trio is real. Thursday we had our
last trainer trainee meeting, and again PVC was completely useless.
Good times at meetings with your mission president. Then we went and
did a lot of wood stacking. I love splitting wood, but stacking wood
is the bane of my existence. I love service though, so it was all
good, I only got a little cranky.

Friday we had zone meeting and then I went with Elder McKraken on
exchange in Sterling. It was one of the better exchanges I've ever
had. We went to this party for a few returned missionaries as a
finding activity, and we actually found people. It was super cool. A
guy named Warren came up to us and asked for a Book of Mormon, and
after giving it to him and explaining what it was we invited him to
church, which he came to a few days later. It was awesome.  Good
exchange.

Saturday, after exchanging back, we did another service project and
taught another lesson. Then on Sunday two investigators came to church
and we helped Bruce to start progressing too. So this week was pretty
dang awesome.

Transfer calls are this Friday so we will see what will be happening
for the next six weeks. I'll let you know on Monday. Peace out y'all!



Monday, October 3, 2016

Week 16, Homer, Alaska

Hello,

This week was another good and spiritually uplifting one up here in Alaska. There were no super crazy adventures thus week, but it was just a really good one. It's nice when that happens. We did get a call from President who informed us we are going to get a third missionary in our companionship. So we'll be in a trio for the rest of the transfer, which ends in two weeks. I've never been in a trio before, so it should be a lot of fun. 

We taught a bunch of lessons during the week, but then on the weekend people went on vacation again and no one was home. However this weekend was general conference, which is the best as a missionary for several reasons. 1. It pretty much file the whole day so you don't have to stress about planning. 2. You wear a suit so you're considerably less likely to fall asleep. 3. The messages have so much more meaning as you try to apply them not only to yourself but to all the people you work with. 4. Listening to the Prophet and Apostles speak is lthe most inspiring thing to do because it fills you with so much hope. After conference you always feel unstoppable as a missionary. What makes me sad is that I only have one more left on my mission. 

And that was pretty much the week. Not too much to report, but it was a powerful one. Life is made in moments like that. Peace out.

Love,

Elder John Miller
The sunrise before conference

Check our what our favorite less active gave me

I'm Batman