Leaving Orange already?

Hows it going y'all?
Good mehopes!
Here I am, on pday, writing my email!
Guess what?
Spiritual thought:
So in the church we sometimes really like speculating on certain things we
dont fully understand. What does heaven look like? What age am I gonna be
when I'm resurrected? Stuff like that. There are lots and lots of theories
about all sorts of gospel things. The scriptures tell us that if we ask we
shall recive. That can be a bit dangerous, though. Spiritual knowledge is
very, VERY powerful.
Here's a verse from Jacob chapter 4:
14 But behold, the Jews were a stiffnecked people; and they despised the
words of plainness, and killed the prophets, and sought for things that
they could not understand. Wherefore, because of their blindness, which
blindness came by looking beyond the mark, they must needs fall; for God
hath taken away his plainness from them, and delivered unto them many
things which they cannot understand, because they desired it. And because
they desired it God hath done it, that they may stumble.
Their fall came from looking beyond the mark. We are in the same exact
spiritual peril right now. When we focus on things beyond that which is
needed, we risk stumbling and losing sight of God and our eternal purpose.
So, remember. God will give you what you ask Him for. Will it be good for
you?
This isnt an invitation to stop studying and stop learning. This is an
invitation to always, ALWAYS prioritize the basics. There is nothing more
nor nothing less to our salvation than the gospel of Jesus Christ. If you
don't have a firm understanding of what that is, please study 2 Nephi 31
and 3 Nephi 11. I promise you that concreting your understanding in the
gospel, the good news, the rock, will help you a lot with your testimony.
There's no need to get lost.
As Jesus the Christ says in 3 Nephi 11:
39 Verily, verily, I say unto you, that this is my doctrine, and whoso
buildeth upon this buildeth upon my rock, and the gates of hell shall not
prevail against them.
40 And whoso shall declare more or less than this, and establish it for my
doctrine, the same cometh of evil, and is not built upon my rock; but he
buildeth upon a sandy foundation, and the gates of hell stand open to
receive such when the floods come and the winds beat upon them.
Also, the only unforgivable sins are ones predicated on knowledge. For
example, to deny the hoky ghost after having known him. That doesn't really
mean personal apostasy after being a baptised and confirmed member. We
operate off of faith, we are held a lot more lenient than say, the Brother
of Jared. That guy SAW God. Like, he knew, without a doubt that god was
real because he saw and spoke to him. Thats kinda why he got yelled at so
much for being disobedient. Knowledge is power, and with great power comes
great responsibility.
Kinda random string of thoughs but I hope you liked.
Also shoutout my sisters for getting their patriarchal belssings next week
thats dubs!
Anyway yeah stuff that happened this week! We got transfers this morning,
turns out both me and Elder Card are leaving! Actually, theres worse news.
This area is going full English now. They told us it would be an English
and Spanish area but now its just English. We have been putting a lot of
work the past few weeks into promoting an Spanish class and an English
class but now theres not going to be anybody to teach it! It also means
that around 70% of the people we're teaching are going to need to be
stopped teaching because they only speak and understand Spanish. How
wonderful! It should only be a transfer or two at most, but we have a real
shortage of Spanish elders here right now. So yeah, basically the past 6
weeks of work were for nearly nothing ._.
Not entirely nothing though! We have one really cool guy we're teaching
right now named Julio. We were able to get him to church yesterday which
was amazing. He's got a lot of struggles but its been awesome to get to
know him and I really hope the new elders take good care of him. Please
pray for him.
Plus, any work for the lord is for a purpose, weather or not we understand
it. Bonus scripture!
1 Corinthians 15
58 Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye steadfast, unmoveable, always
abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is
not in vain in the Lord.
We had a pretty neat pday, we started by playing some pickleball and then
we drove into a city called Besumont for lunch. We went to a sushi place
that cost $20 for an all you can eat lunch meal. It was yummy! It's been a
while since i've had sushi. We were able to hang out with some other
missionaries, too.
Theres a big scare down here right now because of the snow, so we're
expecting to have a snow day tomorrow. One whole inch! (Maybe.) We were
able to work tonight but no guarantees for tomorrow night. We said bye to a
few people, and a few other people didnt answer the door.
Oh yeah but Elder Card and I are moving together to the same District! He's
going to be my district leader. We're still gonna live in the same
apartment because it's a quad. Pretty funny! Our mission president actually
called us last night to tell us, it was quite the surprise!
Earler this week, I got to do an exchange with the district leader and his
comp. I got to spend 2 nights in their apartment. Their apartment is a
shack on a property we call the "Ross compound" It was really fun. The
first night, Elder Finch (my DL) told me we were going to have a word of
wisdom lesson with one of his progressing friends. I was like, okay! We sat
down with him and started talking. The guy started asking me questions out
of right and left field and I was having some trouble keeping up. Well,
eventually he had me look at a photo on the wall. It was him and his wife
kissing in front of the temple. They tricked me! He was a member the the
whole time! It was a pretty funny experience, apparently I did a decent
enough job of teaching though so no problem.
Good week all in all though! I'll miss the ward here for sure! Ok photo
time:
Bought myself a late Christmas present

Nature

Photo shoot type day

The Texas border (with Louisiana)

My new comp, Elder Soucie! (I took this pic last week before I knew he
would be my comp!)

https://photos.app.goo.gl/LvH1u7A88T9LSwoS8
Thats all you want from me for tonight.
We'll try to stay safe in the snow!
Love ya,
Bye
Elder Miller
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