WK 3 - Lymaniscute@hotmail.com

Please don’t try emailing that email. I won’t work. I already tried. My district almost tricked one of the sisters that it was my comp’s email. But I was curious. So I emailed this mystery account owner about the Book of Mormon and sadly he does not exist.

Hello! This week has absolutely FLOWN by. Time flies when you’re feeling the spirit. That’s the saying right?

On Sunday I gave my farewell and my Comp pulled up with his family! It was an awesome sort-of surprise! I had to give them the address. It was great to meet Elder Lyman in person though! It’s weird that with home MTC you can have a companion come to your farewell haha.

Classes are solid right now although I’m definitely getting tired of Zoom. The Amharic is going well! I’m starting to feel like I can actually speak it rather than just memorize it. It’s been fun creating random sentences and seeing our teacher’s reaction. But it’s also been a really neat experience to be able to create (me or the spirit you decide) sentences on the fly while teaching or practicing that are so spiritually powerful. 

As a district we’ve been getting lessons from Spanish Elders in one of our Elder’s areas and it’s been amazing. One of the Elders told some of the craziest stories I’ve ever heard and also had a GOAT quote (I'm trademarking that). I’ll share it and that will be my spiritual thought for today. We were talking about mission goals and he shared this: “My goal is to come home and for people to know the strength of my testimony without me having to say a word.” Boom. So good. I challenge you all to strive to let your service and example become the best indicator of your testimony. Through our actions others can come to feel and know the light and love of our Savior Jesus Christ.

Lastly, I got to meet up with all the Utah Elders in my district! We took pictures at the Oquirrh Mountain Temple and then got some Red Robin. Good stuff! My district is awesome!

እግዚአብሔር ይመስገን

Igzee’abhaer yimesgen

Elder Miles

Elder Lyman and I

Cat on the roof?

Utah Elders

"The District"

WK 2 - Wendim Abebe

Hello folks welcome to episode 2. Except it’s already a filler episode that doesn’t really add much plot because there really isn’t too much to talk about this week. It’s about what I’d imagine a very typical MTC week would look like. But that’s ok! I recognize that the work isn’t always glorious and eventful, but that the joy often comes in the little things, and I’ve seen small miracles every day.

The emphasis has been heavily on Amharic the past few days. We’ve really hit the common core hard (the basic skills like praying, testifying, and sharing a scripture) and we started to transition to the intermediate core (the lessons and phrases that go along with them). Along with that, we’ve been teaching a “native” named Wendim Abebe almost every day, but really it’s just our teacher’s alter ego who loves plaid shirts. Those lessons are amazing though! It’s been really cool to be able to give short, powerful, spiritual messages in Amharic and understand some (emphasis here) of Wendim Abebe’s responses. I can feel the spirit present even in those practice lessons. Aside from the language we’ve been going over the lessons in English with Brother Osei-Tutu as well and that has been great. There’s something special about understanding the Gospel simply, connecting all the points, and being able to teach and explain it.

Also! There’s some hope! Apparently, some missionaries whose original assignments were to Ethiopia, and then were temporarily reassigned to the states, are going back to Ethiopia now! Hopefully that means good things for me and my district!

Short spiritual thought! The power of a sincere prayer goes a long way! Always have a prayer in your heart! Go listen to M. Russell Ballard's October 2020 Conference Talk!

Shoutout to my boy Elder Pilling for joining Zion’s Army this week! And check out the awesome blog my Mom made for my emails: https://eldercoreymiles.blogspot.com/

የኢየሱስ ክርስቶስ ወንጌል እወነት ነው

Ye’eeyesus Kristos wengael iwnet new

Elder Miles

Meeting house I think is in Addis Ababa

"Scripture" study???

My MTC office

Pday facetiming with Hermana Klippel

WK 1 - In the beginning.....

I'll admit I'm feeling a little pressure though, I know how missionary letters are. I need to set a strong standard with this first one. Gotta make this email interesting because it might determine whether or not some of you keep reading the rest..........just kidding. There's a lot to talk about so I'll keep it as brief as possible!

Last Wednesday I had the opportunity to go through the Temple, try Ethiopian food, and get set apart all in one day! It was a little bit hectic but it's a day I'll never forget. All of it together made for an awesome experience and I felt the spirit, with the peace and joy it brings, the whole way through (although my opinion on Ethiopian food is still up in the air. Hopefully it's an acquired taste).

I've been in the MTC for just over a week now and I'm absolutely loving it! My district is the Malachi district and we're all going to Ethiopia speaking Amharic. There are 6 elders (including me) from the US and a sister from South Africa who joined us about a week in. They found a companion for her from Uganda that'll join us soon. My companion is Elder Lyman from West Jordan and he's a beast! He's so sincere and ready to serve. Plus, he's a connoisseur of memes so props to him for that. He T-posed on the first day and at that point I knew I'd like him haha.

My two teachers are Brother Osei-Tutu from Ghana and Wendim Beyene from Ethiopia! They are spiritual giants and great teachers. I get so much from them every day. They are also hilarious so that makes for a good time. Wendim Beyene is our Amharic instructor and my goodness the language is so different. But lemme tell you the gift of tongues is definitely real as I've learned so much already. At this point I can read and write in the alphabet and have a decent amount of useful phrases under my belt. I'm excited how it progresses moving on.

እግዚአብሔር ይመስገን
Igziabhaer yimesgen
Elder Miles

Ethiopian Food

Malachi District

Elder Lyman's MS paint flag