#He Lives

Hello Everyone!

Agoura/Thousand Oaks/Westlake is great. It really is a great area, and

has a lot of potential.

We went on a hike last week up to the filming location of MASH. It was awesome!

Have you all seen the Easter Video Because He lives? If not, stop what

your doing and watch it right now. It is only like 2 minutes!

helives.mormon.org

Did you watch it yet???

I love it. The video is so powerful, and as we have watched it with

our members, and LARCs (Less Actives and Recent Converts), the spirit has been so strong, and it has been

incredible to see. The power of what Christ did for us might be

something we can never fully understand, but we can feel it in our

lives no matter what. Our investigator, I., was sick this week, so we were only able to

teach him once, but we taught him about the gospel of Jesus Christ and

committed him to pray every day this week about baptism, so we are

excited to see what happens with that. We saw a super cool miracle

yesterday with our investigator B! Her daughter is a member in our

ward, and B. has been going to church regularly for the last 7

years! The last 2 years, she has been going to the TO (Thousand Oaks) branch, and she

loves it so much. We had been trying to meet with her all transfer,

but had not been able to get ahold of her. Yesterday, though, her

daughter came up to us at church and told us that she wanted us to

come by that evening. We went by and talked with her for a bit. She

was actually the one that brought up baptism, and talked about how she

just hadn't been able to make up her mind on it. We committed her to

praying about it this week, and also to watch General Conference, and

told her that if she goes with that specific question in mind, she

will be able to get her answer. She knows she can, and is going

forward with faith. We are so excited to see what happens there. It

was such an awesome miracle. We were both really happy about it. She

is already keeping all of her commitments, reading, praying, going to

church, everything! All that is missing is baptism! She knows that is

the next step too. She just need to do it! Whew, that's a lot. Sorry!

Sister Hunsaker and me

Sister Hunsaker, Sister Israelsen and me

Did I mention how excited I am for General Conference?! I literally

can not wait! I will have a lot of fun things to write about it next

week!

(Mom's note:General Conference is a semi-annual conference of our church, held on Salt Lake City, but broadcast to the world.  We hear from our prophet, and other leaders of the church.  It can be viewed on BYUTV, or online at lds.org.  There are several sessions.  The women's session was last Saturday, and can already be viewed online.  There are sessions this coming Saturday at 11:00, 3:00, and 7:00 and Sunday at 11:00 and 3:00)

This week, a lot of the ward members have started to reach out to us

for different service opportunities, which is awesome! One thing I

have seen a lot in my mission is that if we start by serving the

members, we gain their trust, and then allow us to help serve their

friends, and it is just the beginning of an awesome chain of events. I

am excited to see what happens.

I am excited to see what this week brings, and to have General

Conference. What an awesome time of year!

I hope you have a great week! I love you all so much! Stay awesome!

The greatest feeling in the whole world. A finished rubik's cube. WOOOOOOOOOO!

Hermana Courtney Miller

"It is so LA-ish"

Hello everyone!

Agoura is great. It is so LA-ish. (Did I say that last week?) I really

do love this area. We have this awesome investigator I. who we are

teaching right now. He had a baptismal date before I got here, but has

since decided that he doesn't feel ready. We are just going really

slowly all the way from the beginning, and trying to make sure he

understands everything that we teach him. He is starting to really

retain the information, which we are grateful for. He says that he has

been praying every day about baptism, but still isn't sure. He has a

lot of pressure from his family who don't want him to get baptized, so

I am hoping that that will not hold him back too badly. Other than

that it has been a bit of a slow week, but not too bad. We are really

trying to work with the Spanish Unit less actives that live in our

area, which we are really grateful for. We are trying really hard to

find all of our investigators, and to teach them, but our schedules

have just not been lining up yet. The Lord knows us perfectly, and

knows exactly what we need. He is truly in charge!

Happy St Pattys day from Hna T and Hna Miller!

This week, my testimony has been strengthened again on how keenly God

is aware of what we are going through. Saturday was a really rough

day, and we weren't sure what to do. It had kind of pushed me to the

edge, and I was having a harder time than Hermana T. We just pulled to

the side of the road, and prayed. A lot. The overwhelming feeling I

got was just that of knowing that our Heavenly Father loves me, and

knows exactly what is happening here, and that he is in charge. I am

reminded of the Mormon Message about the gardener and the current bush

(I believe it is Elder Christopherson speaking, talking about Hugh B.

Brown, if mom would want to include the link) The message that the

Lord is the great gardener here, and that he is in charge, and he is

directing everything in my life. This is a message I have been

reminded of a lot this week. He loves me enough to try me, and trusts

me enough to know I will make the best out of it. Now I just have to

go do just that: my best.

Here's the link to the talk.

As Many as I Love, I Rebuke and Chasten

I am so grateful to be a missionary. This is truly an awesome, miracle

filled work. I am grateful for this Easter season, and the opportunity

to focus everything back to our Savior, Jesus Christ, and all that he

did for us. I know that his atonement and sacrifice is exactly enough

for what we need, and that as we rely on it, we will be able to do

whatever the Lord asks of us. I love this work. I love this mission. I

love each one of you! Have an awesome week!

Thanks for the package, mom!

Hermana Courtney Miller

Agoura, Westlake, Thousand Oaks, oh my!

So firstly, our area is HUGE! And we live in Newbury Park, about a 20

minute drive in Southern California traffic from it. Always such an

adventure. Patience is a virtue. That's what I have learned this week!

Miller Time! Me, Hermana Miller, and Elder Miller

Here are some pictures from before transfers, still in Ojai.

We went on a hike in Ojai our last day. It was incredible.

This happened.

I love this area though. It really is the epitome of Southern

California. (If that is even a thing.) It is a lot of fun. We have

spent a lot of time this week just trying to find our investigators, and

figure things out with the ward and everything. Hopefully, we will be

into more of a routine next week! We do have a couple of investigators

that are progressing, and a recent convert who was baptized last week,

so there is definitely work to be done.

Whooooooooo lives in a pinapple.... in a trailer park...?

The one, the only, Sister Hiland

Hermana Tauiliili is great, she is such a riot. She is originally from

Hawaii, although most of her family lives in Independence now. We are

enjoying our time together, and it will be a fun transfer.

Sister Currie was headed home this week, so obviously, we went and got

FroYo first. Always a party!

Time is really short this week, I am sorry! But I hope everything is

great with you all!

Love you lots!

Hermana Courtney Miller

(Pic: Happy Pi day everyone! We celebrated with Pizza and general

conference on DVD)

Goodbye Ojai...

Well friends, it would appear that my time in Ojai is over. I will be

heading south to Agoura Hills to see what awaits me there. It should

be a lot of fun! Hermana Miller is also leaving, (AKA we're white

washing out) so it has been pandemonium this weekend.

Sometimes, you just have to take Artsy pictures in a field of flowers

Oh, Ojai, how I will miss you.

Ojai is great. I am sad to leave, but know that the Lord has good

things in store for me in Agoura. (I hope that's how you spell it. If

not, that's awkward.) A lot of investigators are having a little bit

of a hard time with both of us leaving, but I have faith that the

Sisters who are coming in are exactly what this area needs right now,

and that they will love these people just as much as we do. F.

and S. are still progressing really well towards their baptisms,

and I know that the Lord will watch over them, and make it happen in

his own time. We were able to see a lot of different miracles this

week, and there were a lot of times that we showed up at someone's

house, only to have them tell us that they had just been praying for

help, or for us to stop by. It is such a neat experience to be that

kind of instrument in the hands of the Lord. I love being a

missionary!

Us and F. The little punk is getting baptized two weeks after I leave. Typical.

F's mom. Oh the stories I could tell about this woman. They

will just have to wait until I get home. :)

La querida Hermana T.

K. What a cutie!

Miller squared + S. and D.

Our cutie investigator, MA, and her (not so cutie) dog Bella! :)

Did capture the flag with the youth on Tuesday. It was a blast!

Here is just a funny story to brighten everyone's day. So yesterday,

the alarm on the phone goes off. We get up, I shower, and we start

getting ready for church. All of a sudden, it hits me that it should

have been day light savings, but figured since the alarm was on the

phone, it would have switched, and we would have been fine. Ward

council was at 8, so we had about an hour left, and we were sitting

pretty on time. That was until the bell tower rang in Ojai, and chimed

8 times. We almost died! We ran and got all of our stuff together, and

got to the church ASAP, wet hair and all. You just have to keep it

classy, as a missionary. :) So, there you go. Don't ever trust the

church's new cell phones.

This week's photo series called: My companion with things in her mouth...

The last photo in the things in my mouth series

I still can not believe it has been 6 week since the beginning of this

transfer. Time has gone way too fast. It feels like we just started.

Well, my brain currently feels like it is melting out my ears from

everything that has happened this weekend. So instead, I will just

send a lot of pictures! Enjoy!

Love you all!

Hermana Courtney Miller

Awesome week!

First things first.

Rain, clouds, wind and SNOW! I literally can't... Before everyone freaks

out, it was just in the mountains, but it was the first thing I saw

when I rolled out of bed Sunday morning. I literally freaked out and

screamed. Hermana Miller thought something was dying. There are

pictures though, no worries. It had been so long since I had seen snow

though, it was a really exciting event!

SNOOOOWWWW! (Okay, so there is like none of it, but when you're in

Southern California, you take what you can get!)

Ojai is crazy awesome. I can't handle it. We have seen so many crazy

miracles this week. Our investigator F. FINALLY accepted a

baptismal date. This has only been coming for about 3 transfers. He

has been able to be clean for about 3-4 months now, and has been

progressing incredibly, but he would not accept baptism. He thought

that his baptism in another church was enough, and he didn't need to

change. This week we went over, and pulled out the Gospel of Jesus

Christ pamphlet, and he said, oh yeah, the baptism one. (We had tried

to go over it a couple times. It didn't really end very well.) We

talked a lot about baptism, and how that by doing it with the

Priesthood Authority he would be making a covenant with God. He sat

there for a while, and then said, well, then I think I need to be

baptized. WHAT?! I was trying to act cool, but I probably looked like

an idiot. I was so happy! He accepted March 28th as a date, and we are

SO excited to work towards that date with him. Talk about a 180 flip.

It is incredible. One of our other crazy miracles this week was with a

random phone call we got Monday night. The man calling identified

himself as a member who lives in Salt Lake, but who used to live in

Ojai many years ago. He told us one of his friends who lives here had

told him he wanted to go church, and learn more. He gave us his

number, and we called Tuesday morning. The man said he was for sure

interested, and we set up an appointment for Saturday. We went by

Saturday morning with one of our ward missionaries. It was such an

incredible lesson. He really does want to learn more, and said he

wants to "figure out whats the truth in this life. I don't want to

have to be searching after I am dead and gone. I want to know now."

Incredible. We talked a little about the Restoration, and the BOM and

he is going to read this week. We talked about church, and he said he

had only two concerns. 1) "Do I have to wear a real tie, or can I wear

a Bolo tie? The whole tie thing just isn't me." and 2) "Can I ride my

motorcycle to church?" He is a riot. He had plans yesterday, but is

planning to come next week. He and the ward missionary hit it off, and

we are excited to work with them to help him progress. Such a crazy

miracle. We saw so many others this week as well, from Less Actives

coming back into town, and us being able to help them, to working with

members, and everything it was such an awesome week. Sorry this is

forever long, it has just been one of those weeks. I love it!

The forever cutie, and amazing cook, la Hermana S.

We were able to have a lot of different service opportunities this

week. It was great. One of the neatest has been with a Less Active who

just got back into town after being gone for over a month. While she

was gone her roommate and close friend passed away,

and she has had a hard time coping with that. We were able to go over

a few times this week though, and help her move his things out of the

house, do some yard work, and to visit and bring words of consolation.

Last night, we really felt impressed that we should go over and visit

her, knowing how her week had been. We stopped by and one of the first

things she said is that we were an answer to her prayers. She had been

wanting to call, but felt like she didn't want to be a burden, since

we had spent so much time helping her that week. She had prayed,

however, that if we had any time, maybe we could stop by, and there we

were. Such a cool experience. When we follow the promptings of the

Spirit, we will ALWAYS be where we need to be.

I have been reminded so much this week of Ether 12:18:

"And neither at any time hath any wrought miracles until after their

faith; wherefore they first believed in the Son of God."

We washed, sanded, and painted all of these in under 2 hours. Impressive, right?

We have been able to see first hand that as we remind ourselves whose

work we are doing, we really do see miracles. This week has been so

crazy, and I know it is because we as a companionship have been trying

to put more focus on the Savior. It's awesome. (I feel like I have

said that a lot in this email. It's because it really is just that

awesome.)

As week 6 of this transfer comes, I am really hoping my time here in

Ojai isn't done. We will have to see what happens, though. I just love

this place so much! I love you all, and hope you can have an awesome,

miracle filled week as well!

A beautiful day in Ojai

Just another view from our morning hike. (Okay, walk, but hike makes

it sound cooler, okay?)

Love ya!

Hermana Courtney Miller