Week 3 in Alaska, Fairbanks

Dear family,

This week was kind of crazy. We did so much service. We're building a smokehouse. Like straight up. 

Tuesday we did a lot of service. We moved a lot of tires. We also helped this woman move her storage and we almost exploded. There was a gas leak in the storage shed, so if anyone had lit a flame we would have blown up. We stopped that project once we found a gas leak though.

Wednesday we went on exchanges. This was my second exchange. I was with Elder Loften and it was pretty fun. We taught this man who had seriously damaged his brain using meth. He really couldn't understand very much, and he had a lot of motor skill issues, but he goes to church every Sunday and loves it. It made me realize that no one is ever to far gone to feel the Spirit. 

Thursday I dug a trench. In the winter the ground freezes to 34 inches so we had to dig a 4 foot deep trench to help this family bury some water pipes. My soft baby hands are starting to callus. 

Friday we built the smokehouse. When I get home I'm never letting the missionaries build stuff for me. We honestly tried to make it good. But we're so inept. It's such a shoddy building. OSHA is going to have a cow with us. 

I'm learning that weekends are the best times to get things done. Saturday we taught a bunch of lessons. We have this old man we reached named Bernie. He's awesome. Saturday's are good days.

Sunday's are the best days. In Testimony meeting this sister got up and bore a 25 minute testimony. It was awesome. Then the next sister mentioned Area 51 in hers. The bishop almost face palmed. Then we taught relief society. Then after church we taught a Russian woman named Svetlana and her inactive husband Larry. They're golden. We got him to bear this awesome testimony on prayer and she was crying and we were like "Yeah, she's totally gonna get baptized and he's going to reactivate so he can baptize her." Then I had the best enchiladas of my life for dinner. We have dinner appointments like every night. It's great. I was worried I was never going to eat Mexican food, but Elder Jesperson requests it from everyone so we eat it all the time. The only Alaskan food I've had so far is a moose cheeseburger, which was only half moose.

Tell Sister Cluff that I'm in the process of teaching 4 Bulgarian people. They live in the same apartment as us. They're all here for summer work on work visas, so we're going to refer them to the Bulgarian missionaries when they go home. But Sister Cluff was right, I'm teaching Bulgarians.

I have sheets now. I'll buy a carry on sometime soon. I'll be in Fairbanks till December so I'm not too rushed on it.

I got the package with the goldfish and Oreos. They didn't last long. 

I hope everything is going good back home.

Love,

Elder Miller

Sometimes I can respond to Elder Miller while he is still online.  Following is my reply to the above email and his response.

It sounds like you are doing great.  I love to hear from you.  Heavenly father must be looking out for you because you have something that could kill you every week.  (Mom)

I know, it's awesome! Did you know that if I get mangled or my companion dies I get an honorable release? I didn't know that. Not that that's what I'm going for, it's just a fun fact. (John)

Pictures of my Playground