Hermana Miller

Happy Christmas! It is Christmas time. Yesterday we had a really cool opportunity to go and sing at the mall. It was the entire San Juan Zone that went to the mall in Carolina (one of the pueblos to the East of San Juan) and sang a series of Christmas hymns and passed out cards, DVDs and pamphlets. It was cool. I really enjoyed the opportunity. It was also really cool to get together with other missionaries and spend some time together. It was a cool way to help others feel the spirit. I loved going to the mall and singing and sharing the gospel in that way

Last week we also had a Sister's meeting. We all went to the office on Wednesday night and had a little devotional thing. Then, we stayed at the office overnight and were in the office all day on Thursday for talks and activities. During lunch we watched Errand of Angels, a non-church made movie about sister missionaries. It wasn't like, the best movie ever made, but the colors were really pretty and I liked the lighting. And also the message. It was an nice break. It was good to see that the mission is hard for every one and we all have challenges and disappointments at times but it is good and fun to work hard. I could see similarities between our two mission, and I appreciated that. We also watched the video that was played in the Young Woman conference in March. It was so good. It was like Mormon messages. I had read the quotes in the Ensign and really liked them, but it is amazing how powerful images and music can make the words. I really loved it, and would recommend it to anyone who wants to feel the spirit (or in other words...go and watch it now! Of course you want to feel the spirit!). It wasn't just put on by leaders...lots of the hermanas participated by giving a talk or sharing a musical number. I talked about unity and the importantance of being unified and how it is a godly attribute. It was really cool. I loved it and think we should do it more often. I came out of the conference with a greater resolve to work harder and be more obedient. It was a nice way to relax and learn at the same time. It was also nice to see my only remaining ex-companioin, Sister Summers. I miss being with her. She was a really great companion for me.

After the Sister's conference, on Friday we had the ward Christmas party, which had food and people and fun. After eating the food, they started the Paranda, which is basically Christmas caroling (but we didn't go from door-to-door; we just sang right there in the church). They sang traditional Puerto-Rican Christmas songs and played instruments, including bongos and shaky things and guitar and other stuff. It was awesome and little bit difficult not to dance. We just sat down and shook our feet instead. I loved it.

Sister Comoletti is doing really well. I think she might be training me. She has a real gift for thinking of what people's needs are and can really come up with great ideas for lessons. She has an amazing energy for and love of the work. Like I said last week, she has a real fire for missionary work and I am really impressed at how good she is at it. She has a lot of faith; in Jesus Christ and His gospel, and also in others. It is amazing. She is still struggling a little bit with the language (mostly understanding), but I feel like she can speak fairly well for someone who arrived so recently. She is a great companion. She has a strong testimony and bears it often.

We had a new less active come to church on Sunday. That was really exciting. I was so happy to see her there. It is just as good to have a less active come to church as it is to have an investigator make it there.

I don't think I'll be writing again before Christmas (there are some rumours flying around, but nothing officially confirmed yet. We'll see), so I hope you have a great week, and we'll talk to you soon.

Love,

Hermana Miller

5821: This is Karina and Gilberto with their family. The woman on the right is Gilberto's mother, the one that referred Karina. She is from the ward next door, Trujillo Alto.

5823: This is their family with us, ready to baptize/be baptized. :) Aren't those kids the cutest? The girl's name is Koraima and the boy's name is Diego. He is hilarious and she is calm.
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007: These are just some pictures we took of Diego being cute. He loves playing with the phone. He only likes to touch things he is not allowed to touch. Therefore, our phone is his favorite toy.

0011: He loves to laugh and his laugh cracks me up. He kind of just pushes all the the air out at once and then forgets to breathe for a second. And he likes to clap as he does it. He is 2. So cute.

0046: This is the group of Hermanas that all came to Puerto Rico on the same day. We're the old ones now! From left to right: Hermana Melgar (Guatemala), Hermana Palmer (Arizona...but her family recently moved to Peru!), me, Hermana Barker (Utah), and Hermana Rodriguez (El Salvador). We're all pretty cool.

0050: Here are the Puerto Ricans playing and singing. I love this picture because there is action and color. This is Puerto Rico! They're so happy. :)



0053: This is Sister Comoletti and I at the Christmas party...trying not to dance.