Well, this is it. It's ending on a pretty nice number too. This will be my final weekly email. I would love to see you all at my homecoming! Everyone is welcome. It will be Sunday, December 18th at 12:00.
I get home Saturday afternoon after a week of Zone Conferences and hopefully some final miracles. But let me tell you about this last week!
We had a ton of meetings throughout the week, and we also had to prepare for those meetings, so we were busy as could be. On Tuesday we had our normal office meetings, on Wednesday we had MLC, then on Thursday we led a training for the Trainers and Trainees.
Some updates on some of the people we've been teaching!
- Mikias+Biniam: Mikias is a somewhat recent
convert that we have been working with lately that is an absolute stud! He
opened up to us this week and explained how he has felt forgotten by the
branch, but we helped him to see his potential! We have been teaching his
friend Biniam and he also did something else big...that I will talk about
later.
- Addis: Addis is doing well. We had some good
lessons with him this week. At first, we got down to the details and had to
help him understand the importance of Priesthood Authority. Then next time we
shared the different fruits of the Restored church. He was able to see a
baptism this week too!
- Belayneh+Gobena: These dudes are the
definition of old fogies but they are so nice. We brought them to the chapel
and they loved it. Hopefully they can come see a program soon.
- Debebe+Family: This is a super active family,
but we had a lot of fun visiting their home and sharing a message about praying
for missionaries because they have a son in Ghana right now!
Then the highlight of the week and a good send off for the end of my mission: we were approved to go on exchanges down to Hawassa! Hawassa is a lake town with lots of resorts several hours south of Addis Ababa and the last area in the mission I had not visited. So now my infinity gauntlet is complete...
- We flew down Friday afternoon and arrived after 50 minutes of enjoying Ethiopia's landscape. The airport was on the opposite side of the lake from the city so we took a bus and got some nice views.
- We met up with the Hawassa Elders, Elders Willden and Rodgers, and we spent the time with them. Hawassa is super warm and clean and I love it!
- Sooo here's the continued story about Mikias. He is from Hawassa, and his family still lives here! So, we were able to meet with his brother Ageze and spend a day with him! We thought he was going to take us to his home, but instead he took us to a famous park near the lake where you can get monkeys to climb on you!
- Eventually, he took us to his home, but we didn't have enough time to stay, so we went again the next day after the church program and shared the message of the Restoration with him. He is so willing to listen and the fact that we were able to meet with him after working with his brother was an absolute miracle.
- Of course we had to eat some good food, so we ate at one of the lakeside resorts and enjoyed the buffet there.... I haven't had food like that in a long time.
I am so very grateful for my mission. I'll miss Ethiopia a lot. I have felt the love and trust of the Lord extensively over the last two years, and I'm especially grateful for the amazing people I have met and how I have seen the Gospel change their lives. I know that God loves us, that Jesus Christ is our Savior, that Joseph Smith was a true prophet of God, that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is the true church, and that Russell M. Nelson is God's prophet on the earth today.
See you soon
እግዚአብሔር ይመስገን
Elder Miles
Adventure is out there 
Hawassa Lake at sunset 
Ageze! 
Hawassa Branch 
Lakeside 
Mikias! 
Monkey Time 
Hawassa Lake from the sky
