Elder Corey Miles - Ethiopia Addis Ababa Mission: WK 40

Oooh baby one highlight of the week came in the form of a confirmation of my growing Amharic ability. I'm finally starting to be able to understand the conversations going on around me and some of them are very entertaining. On the taxi ride home Saturday night I heard this exchange:

Woman: "ስንት ነው?" (How much?)

Driver: "አስር ብር" (10 Birr)

Woman: "ለምን?" (Why?) (That's more pricey than usual)

Driver: "ስለሆነ!" (Because it is!)

That was good on its own but then when we got off the woman started arguing with him again and he called her አህያ (donkey) and drove off.

Speaking of Saturday night, we visited our favorite place Yeka Abado for our weekly visit with the Branch's 2nd Counselor for FHE again. This time we had the Elder's Quorum President join us. The Elder's Quorum President is the happiest, most joyful and gleeful man you'll ever meet, but he's kind of deaf. So while Elder Anbesse translated about covenants to Amharic, I translated to written text for him to read.

You heard me right too. Elder Anbesse. The old dynamic duo has been reunited. We had some switch arounds this week and now we are a trio here in Summit for however long. I think we might literally be the smallest district in the whole world but that's ok with me.

We went on exchanges with the APs this week and learned a lot from them. We found some new people. Our existing people are doing really well. Patrick, Tariku, and Miki are preparing for Baptism. Sunday was amazing. We had a record high for church attendance for the whole country EVER! Robel and Gideon helped us teach a Sunday School lesson and did a powerful job. A less-active, return missionary that we visited a while back came with his family. One of our new people said he felt a feeling he could not describe during Sacrament Meeting. Everything is just falling into place. Ya know ስለሆነ።

Guys sometimes we have to make sacrifices in our lives. But with Christ as our example we know that when we make sacrifices, we show our love. Our sacrifices are more sacred to the Lord than our increase (D&C 117:13), because in them we show our love for him. If there is a sacrifice you need to make, maybe a habit or behavior that you need to let go of...just do it! The Lord will bless you so much as you fully and sincerely come to him.

Love you all

እግዚአብሔር ይባርካችኋል

Elder Miles

Shout out to my fellow Lone Peak Knight and former teammate Elliot Detjen for getting his call to the Ethiopia, Addis Ababa mission. It’s a good place to be.