Birthday Week

Wow everyone, what a crazy week! I am feeling the love!

Firstly, I had an awesome birthday! My mom sent me some screen shots

of some of your birthday wishes. You all are too sweet! They made my

day. We had a pretty normal missionary day on Thursday for my

birthday. My companions got me ice cream and donuts. It was awesome.

:) At night, the Hermanas came up from downstairs, and we had cake and

ice cream, and Martinellis. It was just an all around fun day. Loved

it! Pictures are included.

Hermana Young likes to laugh as much as I do; it's great! (And for the record, yes, I am drinking Martinelli's from a Mason jar, and yes, those are Avengers plates.)

Love these four so much.  They are SO GREAT!

Other than that though, it has been a good week. Saturday, we got to

go and work at the Swap Meet in Ventura. It was one of the coolest

experiences of my whole mission. We were there for only about two

hours, and talked to 58 people. It was CRAZY. We got so many referrals

from other missionaries of people who want us to come by, and it was

just such an amazing experience. This weekend was kind of a trial run,

but we are hoping to be able to do it more often. We saw so many

miracles. As far as the area, the work is going good. We have one

miracle family who we have been teaching on Sunday nights though, and

keeping all of their

commitments. They have been praying every night as a family, and their

mom commented to us on how much more peaceful their home has been

because of that. It is so cool. And last night, they asked us to come

back on Wednesdays, because they want to hear from us more times a

week. It is one of the best feelings ever! I love this work so much.

Getting to see the Spirit work through these people as they come

closer to their Heavenly Father is just one of the best feelings ever!

My mom is the best! (New Scripture cover)

My time is super short today, so that is about all there is to report,

but just know I love you all. I loved all of the birthday wishes. You

all are the greatest!

Casual Birthday Tiara

Avengers banner.  This was just too perfect not to share.

Keep being awesome!

Hermana Courtney Miller.

I Am Extending!

Hello everyone! What a week!

So firstly, I guess I will get the big news out of the way: I am going

to be extending my mission until August 26, 2015 to be making up for

the time that I missed while I was home. We had Presidents interviews

this week, and we talked about it then. Still not sure what all that

is going to change, and all of that jazz, but it will all work out! I

am glad to be able to have my full time to serve, and this opportunity

I have been given!

Anyway, so back to normal, boring missionary stuff. This week was

pretty routine. Other than interviews it was a pretty straight forward

week. Here are some fun stories:

Firstly, lesson learned this week, never let elders polish your shoes.

This lesson was learned the hard way by Hermana Clark. She let Elder

Lopez polish her shoes on Friday at interviews thinking he knew what

he was doing. There was a lot of laughing, and a lot of trying to

figure out what to do next. Her shoes are now about 3 shades darker,

and totally shiny. Anyway, this means we get a trip to Target in

Ventura today to get her new shoes. Photos are attatched. It was a

riot!

Tuesday, the investigator who had dropped us on Sunday, R.,

called us, and said that he was sorry about how things had ended, and

that he wanted to keep learning, just much more slowly this time. We

are teaching him again, and moving forward a little at a time. We had

a Less Active family at church yesterday for the second week in a row.

Last week they had gone to the Branch, but this week they came to the

Ward, which is where their records are, and are planning on staying.

It is so neat to see them grow in the gospel. R. also came to

church, and really liked it. We also had a less active and

investigator at the Branch on Sunday, so it has been a good week in

that aspect. We are teaching a really cute family with four boys right

now, and we taught them about prayer last night. They loved it, and

their 18 year old boy said the closing prayer. I am loving how

prepared the people here in Santa Paula are. It is such a great area!

Fact: Real men do love Jesus. (This was found in Oxnard, while I was

getting my passport. Also, the lady who did my passport was British.

It was the best thing ever.)

Other than that, there is not a whole lot to report. This week is my

birthday, so that will be fun. One of the members is taking us out to

Lunch that day, and then another member is making us Mole for dinner,

so all in all it is shaping up to be a great day! It will be a lot of

fun!

I have the best mother ever. THAT PACKAGE WAS AWESOME!

It's like missionary Christmas!

Sometimes, you have to put on your headbands and take cute pictures

right before bed.

Anyway, time is short, and I have to run, but I love you all lots.

Thanks for all of your support. Stay awesome, my friends.

Hermana Courtney Miller

Half Way There!

Wow. Time is FLYING BY. This week will be my 9 month mark from the

time I entered the MTC. For those of you who are counting, you will

realize that this will be my half way mark. I can't believe it! SO

CRAZY!

Inspiration for the week!

The area is doing good. This week was a little hard. Our investigator

with a baptismal date, R., was supposed to come to church

yesterday, but his ride showed up without him. We called him, and

confirmed what the person that was supposed to be picking him up had

told us. He told us that he didn't want to change religions, and had

really only been listening to us to be nice. It was sad, but a

learning opportunity. Obviously, there were concerns there that we

were missing, and things we should have been doing different, and we

are trying to do our best to learn from those. It is also a strong

testimony of people's agency, and how at the end of the day, all we

can do is our best, and teach them what they need to know, and then put

it all in the Lord's hands. We talked a lot about the situation

yesterday, after church, and are going to be working this week to

implement the needed changes into our teaching. Other than that the

area is good. We are going to be putting a big focus this week on our

less active members, especially those who live in our area, and attend

the branch. We were able to contact one less active family this week,

and meet with them a couple of times. They were supposed to come to

the ward Sunday morning, but never showed up. We were pretty bummed,

and were going to go over that night to see what had happened, but

then, we walked into the branch, and they were there sitting in the

back row! They used to attend the branch years ago, but had their

records transferred to the ward when they were offended. The branch

was so happy to have them back on Sunday though, and they were truly

welcomed with open arms. It was so neat to see. We really want to have

more of those moments! That is the goal. :) I am loving working in

Santa Paula, and have really loved my time here. Hopefully there is a

lot more of it still to go!

This week, I have been reading in the war chapters in Alma for my

studies. It is something that I have really enjoyed. In my previous

Book of Mormon studies, the war chapters have always been hard for me,

and I didn't feel like I got a lot out of them. This time through, it is quite a different story. I am really understanding what

is going on, and really enjoying not only the stories, but the lessons

there are to be learned. This morning, I started the section about the

2000 stripling warriors, and I am loving learning about their

unwavering faith, and how it is blessing them. These chapters are

becoming such a strong testimony to me, that as we are faithful and

obedient, the Lord will make up the rest. I love reading in the

scriptures every day. It is a great way to start every day.

One fun thing from this week! We got to go to a wedding! One of the

Elder's investigators got married this weekend, so she can be

baptized. It was a nice small wedding, and a lot of fun. I was

grateful for the training I got in cakes growing up. My mom would be

so proud. When we got there, the cake had been dropped off. In two

pieces. And the top tier was just cake on a giant board. No support

board underneath, no support system, anything. And it was a super soft

cake. No one knew what to do, fortunately, Hermana Killpack and I had

both helped with enough wedding cakes in our time to know what to do.

We were able to get the cake off of the GIANT board, and on to the

bottom tier with relatively little damage. All done with tools that

were randomly found in the kitchen. Anyway, it was something I never

thought I would have to do on my mission. It was an adventure. Of

course there are pictures.

The cake ladies

The bride and groom, and their children. It was such a neat day!

Anyway, I love you all, and time is up! I hope you all have a great

week! Love you lots! Stay awesome!

Hermana Miller

Sometimes, you have to make home made mac and cheese and eat it from a pot

Hermana Shepherd and me

Feels Like Christmas! (Not the weather, though)

Hello everyone! A lot to report this week! I guess I will just dive right in.

Tuesday, we had exchanges with Hermana Halliday and Hermana White. It

was a good day. We were able to find a lot of our investgators at

home, and had a really productive day.

Exchanges selfie. (It's casual.)

Wednesday, we got to go to the TEMPLE! I still can't get over it. It

feels like it was yesterday, at the same time that it feels like it

was forever ago. It's been one of those kinds of weeks. The wonderful

Sister Jenkins took us, and we had a blast. The three of us never

wanted to leave. They literally almost had to pry us out. Of course,

there are lots of pictures, so enjoy those! :) I apologize for my

eyes. It was BRIGHT AND SUNNY that day, and of course, we were facing

right into the sun. Oh well!

And a car selfie, because, why not?

Such a beautiful place!

And a temple selfie. (This might be the week of selfies, sorry not sorry.)

And one more. It was SUCH A GREAT DAY!

And.... a cool tree. Because, why not?

Thursday we had a service opportunity helping an elderly couple clean

out their house, which we did with the English Elders here in Santa

Paula. Unfortunately, there are no fun pictures from that.

Then, this weekend was, of course, General Conference. I keep laughing

because everyone that e-mailed me talked about it being "like

Christmas!" But, in reality, it might be better. :) It was an awesome

weekend. They weren't showing it here in Santa Paula, so we went down

to Fillmore to watch it with the elders from our district. It was so

amazing. (Except for the fact that the AC wasn't working on Saturday,

and it was 111 degrees, but that is a different story for a different

time.) I really loved so many of the talks that I don't know where to

start. Elder Bednars was really cool from a missionary standpoint. The

elders had an investigator there, and he really loved it. (If you

don't know what I am talking about, you should go look up the talk. It

is all about why we do missionary work, and why we, as Mormons, want

to share the gospel. Check it out. gc.lds.org It should be under the

Sunday afternoon session. If my mom is feeling really nice this week,

maybe she will put a nice link in right about.... here: )

Elder Bednar's Talk on why Mormon's want to share our beliefs

It was just such an amazing, and spiritual week. One of our awesome

investigators, R., has a baptismal date for November 1, and he

is so excited about it. He came to the Sunday Morning session of

conference, and really loved it. We also found some amazing new people

this week, and I am excited to see what will happen with them.

I love being a missionary, everyone. I could say it a thousand times,

and I don't think it would even begin to cover it. This work is an

amazing work. It truly is so much fun. I know I say it every week, but

I can't wait to see what next week will bring. We have a lot of

service, and lots of lessons lined up this week, so here is hoping it

all works out.

I love you all so much! Thank you so much for all of your love,

support, and prayers!

Que Dios los bendiga!

Hermana Courtney Miller

P.S.-Someone forgot to tell California that it is fall!