Meet Augustus and Denis

Ciao Tutti!

 (ABOVE: a future missionary I think)

I dont have much time so ill get to the exciting parts. This past week we had a baptism!!! it was really cool. they are brothers Augustus 16 years old, and Denis 13 years old. they are the first ones in their family to be baptized and are really great! the really cool part is that they are now our first young men in our branch, so we had to start a new class for them and organize a new calling and everything! its cool i love them! haha

the other cool part was that president dibb was able to be there sunday for the confermation. and that sunday our branch had their first ever missionary leave so they had a fairwell talk. her name is Jessenia scattonia and will be serving in the spain mission! but the cool part was that augustus and denis both got to see how excited she was for a mission, then they were able to go to the setting apart. i know they felt the spirit and i really hope that one day they can go on a mission too! just a dream of mine! we will see. 

i wish i had time to tell you the whole story of them and how we found them and how they decided to be baptized cause its really cool! but i dont have time. so know that the church is true! God does answer prayers and that you really can feel the love of god and the holy sprit when you come to church! ok i love you all so much! i wish i could tell you in person how great the mission is. but i pray for you all always. thanks for the prayers!

oh special shout to my parents who have been married 40 years. way to go! i love them both and am so thankfull for them every day! 

ok ciao!

Update on Elder Miller

Ciao Tutti!

So this mission is moving forward, just as life always does. it moves forward! its great, i dont have a ton to say this week, but i do want to say that i love the mission! i love the people, and i love this opportunity! its hard to describe why i love it, cause its been a lot of hard and difficult times and happy times as well, but i do love it! i love this work! And i love this gospel. It just makes sense! and i know its true.... so yeah! its true!

cool events that are happening, we are on track to have some baptisms coming up. The two brothers and their mom are really starting to love church and the lessons that we give and really just love us, its cool! I will say they are my friends haha they are cool! and the coolest part is that they are so open to the spirit and gospel. Agustus, the older brother is the one who came to church first. He came alone and stayed for the whole thing, i wasnt sure how he would like it because ti be honest its 3 hours... our branch is old... and well hes young haha, but i should have more faith because after the first time he came to church we had a lesson with his family later that week, and he bore his testimony to his family on how the second he walked in he knew this was his church. he said he felt something and he said he just knew... he’s awesome! so that family is really cool.

this week we met this guy from napoli, Michele. he is so cool. first i love how people from Napoli speak, they are so rhythmical and poetic in the way they talk. i wish i could talk like him. im pretty sure i sound super american when i speak italian haha but thats ok! but he came like agustus came to church alone and he like agustus i thought would not like it as much as i wanted him to, but once again i need more faith cause afterward the next day he called to set up the appointment and he explained that he loved it, so we have a baptisimal date with him! i love seeing people feel the spirit its fun! so i guess the story of them is to trust in the Lord! and trust that the holy spirit will testify to everything you need to know! 

There are other cool stories but they will have to wait, this next week im a bit nervous cause i have to talk again, that part im not so nervous for anymore, but my new president, president Dibb is coming to our small branch so im just a bit nervous for that for some reason. we dont have much communication with the office or president here in Ancona cause we are literally hte furthest away, sometimes i forget there are other missionaries all over italy haha. but yeah! i love you all! i pray for you all! pray for me!

ciao!!

Sunset from Ancona, Italy

Finally..Here is Ty's tribute to Shorty that he asked me to include. I promise he did.

Shorty!!!! :( when I read that my heart dropped a little bit. I’m so sorry, i did love your little dog! she was always sleeping and i also loved that haha. but That’s sad, I was for sure all the dogs would be there when i got done with the mission... and now hersheys GF is gone. oh shorty! I’m sorry toni! life is stupid sometimes... we know that probably more than we should. there is a saying that the Italian people always tell me when i ask them how they are doing, alot of them say "sempre va avanti" which just means life always goes on. its not the happiest response people give but to be honest its the most true answer people give me sometimes. life always goes on, even after hard things, stupid things, and fun things. life now and always will go on. thats just how life is, but we grow and we learn from every situation. and if there is a group of strong people in the world who can overcome anything, its my sisters! your strong!