Mountain Climbing

Howdy, friends & family!
Happy Pioneer Day to all my Utah people! I hope you've had a stellar week,
because I have! I suppose it's time for my scripture of the week, and I
think no scripture has made me think more this week than 1 Nephi 11:1,

For it came to pass after I had desired to know the things that my father
had seen, and believing that the Lord was able to make them known unto me,
as I sat pondering in mine heart I was caught away in the Spirit of the
Lord, yea, into an exceedingly high mountain, which I never had before
seen, and upon which I never had before set my foot.

What really piqued my interest with this verse were two things, the first
being "caught away in the spirit" and the second being "into an exceedingly
high mountain". Later, in verse 11, Nephi talks about how the spirit talks
to him, as a man talks to another man. I think that's pretty cool, but I
also don't really have any extra insight into it.
HOWEVER, that second part led me to think for a while about how the Lord
uses mountains to communicate with his servants. I found 21 (at least, I
might have missed a few) separate references to a servant of the Lord going
up to a mountain. Isaiah calls the temple a mountain, and Jacob cites it in
2 Nephi. It's an interesting symbol I never really reflected on before. Why
does the Lord use mountains to communicate with His servants? I think the
main reason is because it represents our willingness to communicate with
God. If God has important work for us to do, he won't just give it to us.
He needs to make sure we are ready and willing. The mountain, at least in
biblical times, stood as the divider between God's willing servants and
those who weren't quite ready to consecrate their efforts to the Lord.
Mountains truly are natural temples to the Lord. I'm definitely gonna miss
the mountains when I'm in Texas. Also I suppose if you wanna see the
references I found or maybe share some more insight I'd be more than
willing to listen! Send me an email!
I suppose you probably wanna know what I've been up to and not just my
sermon of the mount!
I've been pretty busy with learning Spanish and scripture study this week.
I was feeling a little bit under the weather this past week but I'm feeling
chipper now. The MTC has illnesses spreading through it every
Wednesday like crazy (when all the new missionaries arrive). It's wild to
think how little time I have left here in the MTC, I'll be heading off to
Houston Monday after next. There have been many, many moments of learning.
Tuesday was super fun. We were able to go to the temple and perform
sealings with our teacher Hermana LeBlanc. We also had a pretty cool
devotional. After the devotional, we have a discussion with our district.
In that I asked a question that I had about a certain scripture (Genesis
32), and why Jacob is still called Jacob after his name was changed. What's
crazy is that Hermana LeBlanc had talked to the 3 hermanas in my district
about that EXACT. SAME. CHAPTER. already that day in the temple! They were
able to answer my question, and gave me a lot of insight into that chapter
that I never had before. (See also: Enos, the whole book, tis but one
chapter).
I also began reading Jesus The Christ by Talmage, which I have really
enjoyed so far because it's pretty effective at putting a lot of the bible
and the stories into context, with ample references to the Bible and the
Book of Mormon. Understanding the character of Christ is perhaps the most
important thing I can do as one of His missionaries.
The purpose of my mission is the same as Jesus's. To love. That is what
Jesus ALWAYS did first. Love brings about miracles. I can quote as many
scriptures to people as I want, but the spirit won't ever be there unless
love is also there. Our God is a god of love. Love others, and I promise
you will feel God's love.
I don't have much more to talk about so enjoy some pictures!
The coolest sunset I've ever seen
[image: f07d2630-8361-4943-a585-0433e4c73423.png]
Too many new missionaries, so we gotta sit on the floor in the devotional.
[image: image.png]
Elder Mauchley loves flowers. (his nose is yellow from flowers)
[image: image.png]
Temple Trip!!!
[image: image.png]
Thank you to all the people who sent me emails this past week, your support
means the world to me and helped me out a lot. Thank you for your faith.
That's all I got for this email! If you want to see some more photos, check
out my google photo album! https://photos.app.goo.gl/LvH1u7A88T9LSwoS8

Love you all,
Elder Miller
\[T]/