WK 14 - ETHIOPIA BOUND

Yes. Indeed. I got the call on Tuesday. I will be heading to Ethiopia on April 30th! That's much sooner than I expected and I'm positively pumped out of my mind. Buttttt it was kind of a slap in the face to my Amharic so I've been GRINDING the language this past week. I realized it's ok though because I'll spend nearly 24 total hours ( :( ) on a plane for that trip so there will be plenty of time to review, right?

Other exciting changes: today is the last week of the transfer, so last night we got the word on what our area is going to look like for the week and a half I'm still here. Elder Hawkins and I are staying here in Simi Valley, but another Elder will be joining us to form a trio! That way when I leave, him and Elder Hawkins will just shrink to a normal sized companionship. But for now we will be repping the tri-pan.

We had a mission tour this week with Elder Whiting of the seventy, and he met with the whole mission for an hour over Zoom on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. When Elder Whiting wasn't making fun of us, he was dropping straight doctrine. I learned a lot from him, and one of those things will be my spiritual thought:

He talked about having a Nephi attitude versus having a Laman and Lemuel attitude which is a pretty standard thought but the application is great! Do we complain about our circumstances, or do we take what we've been given and run with it? Instead of saying I'll wait until it's better to try, say how can I try to make it better. What can we do to make the most of the situation? That is how we show faith in God's plan for us, and as we do so he will lead us to what he needs us to accomplish. That is why we are where we are.

Teaching this week has been up and down: we grabbed in-n-out shakes with our friend Christian this week and headed to a park to discuss the Book of Mormon and after some chit-chat he jumped straight into bashing. So RIP Christian. We started teaching a man named Tyler this week too, but he has a very similar background to Christian so I'm afraid it'll take the same route. We were so sure Raymond and Theresa were going to come to church on Sunday but they ended up feeling sick. Richard and Nick are progressing slowly but are doing well as usual.

Love you all! Have a good week!

ጤና ይስጥልኝ

May God give you health

Elder Miles

A little bit of preparation day Amharic practice

WK 13 - Lawn Ornaments

Random Simi fact: for some reason people here just love leaving home appliances out on their yard. I've seen three separate houses in this last week with toilets just chilling on the grass out front. There have been several with sinks and some mini-fridges too. I'm probably missing something but it's definitely been a pattern.

Stake Conference was yesterday and that was phenomenal because 1. the speakers were great and 2. that's the most people I've seen attend a church meeting in person in a year! It made me so happy. I'd just like to say that God truly directs this church and the saints!

Three of our friends are progressing well! We gave Richard a book called "Lehi in the Desert" by Hugh Nibley (who is fire btw) that will hopefully address some of his concerns about the Book of Mormon. He was so excited to get it! And then Nick is doing great as well! We had a great lesson with him reading 3rd Nephi and his family testified to him about the blessings of baptism. We watched a new convert devotional run by President Carter with him yesterday and we're hoping he enjoyed it.

We've been teaching this couple, Raymond and Theresa, and they've been through some hard things in their lives and especially recently Raymond has had some major health issues. They always try to have a positive attitude and focus on spiritual things despite their challenges and it's honestly really inspiring. They've got a lot of questions about the purpose of life and why bad things happen, so it's been great to help them understand parts of the Plan of Salvation. We invited them to watch Stake Conference and not only did they persevere through bad audio, but Theresa TOOK NOTES. That's more than I did. We're excited to see what they thought.

Spiritual thought: this one comes from Hank Smith (who is also fire). Experiences outweigh opinions! Remember your personal spiritual experiences and don't let people's opinions of the church ruin them. That's like someone telling a blind man that he's not really blind. Who would know better here?

ጤና ይስጥልኝ

May God give you health

Elder Miles

Cor(e)y Street

WK 12 - Meat and the Priesthood

Can I just say General Conference while out on a mission is the best? It was definitely the highlight of the week. One session we watched with Richard, a much older gentleman we're currently teaching who is honestly more knowledgeable about church doctrine and history than a lot of members. His wife is a member and he loves thinking deep about religious topics so he loved it. Elder Holland is his favorite speaker, and when he was announced to go next Richard started oohing and aahing with excitement. It warmed my heart haha he is the sweetest man.

The other sessions we watched as a district and that was a party. For the Priesthood session we picked up one of those group meal deals from a barbeque place here in Simi and so just before listening to some fine talks we pounded some ribs and tritip with the Zone Leaders. For the Sunday afternoon session I whipped up some homemade lemonade with some lemons given to us by a member and it turned out pretty good. So overall a 10/10 experience except I ate way too much sugar because I kept telling myself I could eat one more brownie since I need to put on some pounds for Ethiopia.

Some other random little things that happened: almost witnessed a member get arrested, had a super awkward member visit, met a man in a trailer park who was high as a kite but wanted a Book of Mormon, and I spent a night running our area (with a lot of forgetting things and getting lost) with one of the ZLs. 

President Nelson's talk Sunday morning on faith was fantastic! There was so much good insight in it that I couldn't even write it down fast enough, so I'm excited to be able to go back through and read it. But he truly is a prophet of God. He can tell us exactly what is best for the members of the church right now and I know his message was inspired. Faith really is so important; there's a reason it's the first principle of the Gospel. I know if we find ways to truly apply what he taught then we will see that faith grow. 

Plus 20 new temples? That was crazy. I was hoping for an Addis Ababa one to be announced, but there's still time.

ጤና ይስጥልኝ

May God give you health

Elder Miles

He is risen! One of the members here has this outside their house.

The streets ✌

Abomination lemon

The zone squad

My absolute favorite missionary meme (shoutout to Elder Suarez for getting it to me)

WK 11 - The dark side of Simi

Things are heating up here in the Valley. Sunday was the first day where, even in a short sleeve white shirt, the heat was bothering me. And talking to the people here it's only gonna get worse.

We've met some really awesome people this week! The nicest lady, "mama bear" Patti pulled up next to us one evening and said she had missionaries over before and would love for us to come over and share a message. Another night we started a conversation with a man named David whose views about Christianity, our purpose here on Earth, and life after death were almost identical to what we know about the Gospel (with some minor differences). I've heard the word elect thrown around and David is truly elect.

We had District Leader exchanges this week and had some cool experiences while on it. We were walking on the sidewalk and a lady on the phone waggled her finger at us and mouthed that she needed to talk to us. Afterward she hung up, she asked us when church was and wanted us to pray for her Dad. Turns out she was a member visiting from Northern California and really wanted to go to church, and kept telling us we were an answer to prayers. We just happened to be in the right place at the right time apparently, but we just thought we were just hustling to dinner (there was tri-tip involved so trust me we were hauling).

We also ended up dropping off cookies to less active members in this really cool area of Simi up in the hills. Up there seems like a totally different city though. Complete opposite of what you usually see in Simi Valley. The thing is it, was like 8:30 while we were there, so it was so dark, and in the dark it seemed like a scene straight out of a horror movie: in the woods, with narrow dirt roads, janky houses and yards, and weird lights coming from everywhere. I honestly thought I was gonna get snuck up on by a Demigorgon or something. We met a super nice lady there though who collects wooden bears.

Spiritual thought: commandments and rules are actually blessings and not restrictions! It may not always seem that way, but God sees things from a perspective we don't! God loves us and wants us to be safe and happy, so he gave us guidelines that keep us free, safe, and happy. I know that as we keep the commandments, we can experience those things.

We just played mini-golf and I'm about to go toast two kids on the high school bball team here for the second time in a row. It’s been a good day. You all are the best!

ጤና ይስጥልኝ

May God give you health

Elder Miles

The best pizza I've ever had - BBQ Chicken with cilantro.

The Root Slayer 9000.

Me an the Kool-Aid man.

Top of the line security.

WK 10 - Mender Tercies

Tender Mercies: I found a stash of microwave popcorn leftover in my apartment, my companion doesn't like popcorn so it's all for me, and I'm sleeping on a two mattress thick bed. Life is good.

For real though this week has been full of them. For one it went by MUCH faster than last week and I have a feeling that trend will only continue. Now that I've settled in and kind of gathered my bearings out here in the wasteland it's safe to say that missionary work is the best! I'm loving it more and more every day.

We did a lot of service this week. Most it has been helping move furniture and I've come to the conclusion that the church could honestly double as a very effective moving company. We also helped a family put together a playset and another move dirt for the putting green they're putting in their backyard. We found a man named Rocko in a trailer park one day who was so pumped to show us the clocks (perhaps the coolest clocks I've ever seen) and canes that he makes; we're going to do some service for him soon.

On Wednesday we had exchanges with the Zone leaders and that was probably the highlight of the week! We found 3 people and had a great discussion with an older member couple. It was so nice to see another missionary's style of doing things. We also dropped off cookies to some previous missionary contacts, and one of them wasn't home. I really felt like we should leave the cookies on the porch with a note, so we delayed a bit to write it, and when I went to run them to the door the family pulled in the driveway! We ended up having a nice little conversation with them.

Teaching is going well. We found out one lady we're teaching named Cathy is super into family history so we're going to really use that route. We taught the woman in the huge house again and we're not quite sure how she's progressing but she feels the spirit really well. I also got to finally meet and teach the husband of a part member family we're teaching and that family is awesome. It might've been the best lesson yet too.

Oh blessed day, California opened indoor dining this week so a Sister in the ward took us out to a diner called Beep's with her friend and a Brother in the ward who's birthday was recently. It was an absolute party. 

Lastly, I gave a talk in Sacrament on Sunday! I spoke on the joy the Gospel brings and Elder Hawkins talked about how to share it. Kind of some tag team action going on there. I feel like I'm really starting to get to know the members here which has been way fun.

Spiritual thought! The spirit speaks to us all in different ways! As you strive to Hear Him as the prophet is encouraging us to do, write down those ways that you feel the spirit and really cherish and seek them. As you do I promise you'll see the spirit's influence more in your life.

 

ጤና ይስጥልኝ

May God give you health

Elder Miles

Me with a pirate sword we found on top of a shelf we were moving.

Elder Merwin, the Zone Leader, and I.

Wonky looking cat I saw in a trailer park.

I'm absolutely loaded in Ethiopian Burrs. Too bad they don't accept them here :(

Our apartment has blue syrup so I made these.

WK 9 - Now You Simi

Good morning everyone! It has been a crazy week of change and adjustment but life in the field is great! After flying into Santa Barbara on Monday, we ate dinner at the mission president's house (who already astounds me with the knowledge and spirit that he has), had an introduction meeting at the offices, then it was straight to business.

My companion is Elder Hawkins from New Hampshire. He's an experienced missionary with "just over a year" under his belt (more like 19 months but that's what he tells everyone). This Elder is an absolute WISHING WELL of knowledge so I'm super excited to learn from him. I've absorbed more random, specific details about the scriptures in this last week than ever before.

My area is in a city called Simi Valley which is the southernmost part of the mission. It's just northwest of LA county and is fairly close to Calabasas and Beverly Hills. Fancy, I know. But Simi Valley is awesome! It's a beautiful mountainous area that is usually really warm, but it's been rainy this week and it even HAILED one day which is definitely unheard of. I love the homes here because none of them match each other and they all look super unique.

This area is popping in terms of teaching. Elder Hawkins put in the work last transfer and we have 6 people we're currently teaching with plenty of potentials. One of my favorite parts so far is that the ward here is super great about missionary work and we spend a lot of time visiting members. There are so many awesome families and people I've met so here's a quick rundown of some of them:

• We've been meeting with a middle aged man who is a recent convert and is insanely hilarious because he doesn't hold back at all.
• We often visit an older couple because we are teaching the husband and they are legit the sweetest people. His wife is a member and he's really interested and knows a lot about the church but he has questions.
• We helped a family clean and organize their garage. The older children in this family are super into LARPing and so we got a nice rundown of that. Plus we got to play with some of their foam weapons a bit.
• Helped a lady with the dopest dog move bricks.
• Lastly we took one of the people we're teaching the sacrament and she had the coolest house and coolest property I've ever seen. It reminded me of Edna Mode's house from the Incredibles. Super modern, made of steel, with tons of art and a crazy layout.

A bit of a longer email but there's the basics. Missionary work is hard but it's so rewarding to be entirely focused on serving others. I'm pumped to see what comes. You all are the best!

ጤና ይስጥልኝ

May God give you health

Elder Miles

The hail looking like some familiar snow

STOP...hammer time

Simi Valley

My district. Elder Hawkins is the farthest to the right.

WK 8 - Season 1 Finale

Well that’s it. My home MTC experience is over just like that. I had my last class Friday and it was a bittersweet day for sure. I’m going to miss the group, but it’s definitely time to get out there. I got a call from the mission nurse in Ventura this week and she talked a lot about the area and the mission. It got me so juiced. Apparently I’m getting there just in time for strawberry and cilantro (the most superior herb. iykyk) season...I might be surviving on those two crops for the first couple of days.

Class honestly lacked this week: there was a lot of nothin'. It just seemed like everyone was tired and ready to move on, including the teachers. I don’t blame them either: I definitely felt the same way. I think we were running out of material to go over too. I still learned a lot though, plus there were a few neat little experiences here and there! We taught in English for the first time, which kinda threw me off a bit. It was good practice though, considering I will be teaching in English now.

The MTC actually hired another teacher from Ethiopia to help with the Amharic groups, so for the last three days we had Brother Woyesa join us. We “taught” him aaaaaand it went terribly (we maybe probably offended him (well his character)). It was hard! I could barely understand anything. He was speaking super fast and super quiet, which I’m sure is how it will be a lot of the time in Ethiopia so I better get used to it. Plenty of work on the way. I’ll get there.

Lastly we had a “test” workshop this week about seeing others as Christ does. The MTC was trying to decide whether or not they wanted to teach it regularly to incoming MTC groups and we were the guinea pigs for it. Because of this, there were a lot of MTC big wigs from all over the world on the call, which was sweet to see. They shared some cool insight and the workshop itself was great too. Quick spiritual thought: try to see others as Christ does. Strive to notice their light, worth, and potential before anything else. This will bring more light, love, and joy into your life and spread those same positive feelings to those you interact with!

I fly out tomorrow! Next time you hear from me it’ll be from the WEST COAST.

ጤና ይስጥልኝ

May God give you health

Elder Miles

RIP to the DRIP. I sold my frog this week. Here is one of the final pictures.

Elder Lyman and I's work of art that we created while waiting to teach.

Elder Pilling, Me, Elder Probst, and Nate the day before Elder Pilling left.