Welcome Home

Last Letter Home

Hey for those of you that can come, just to let you know my farewell is on the 24th at 9:00 at the chapel on Dalton Drive in Springville, Utah. for those of you still on missions my email at home will be kilometers5@gmail.com. Love you all!!!

I have been reflecting a lot on these last two years of my life and what they mean to me.

These last two years of my life have been one of the hardest, tiring, stressful years of my life, but I wouldn't change them for the world. I never never sweat, bled or cried so much in my life, but every drop was worth it. I have lost weight, precious time and even some of my English, but all in order to find something else. Something better. My mission has changed my life. 

First off Korea. I will never be able to look at the Korean flag without thinking of my wonderful time here. At first it was hard learning a difficult language, adjusting to such a different culture and becoming a missionary. I'm not gonna lie it was hard. but going through that has made me a way better person, and into the person that I needed to become. I love this country, culture, food, language and people. Korea has a sacred place in my heart. I will never forget Korea and the relationships I have made here.

But the biggest thing that happened on my mission was I was able to find my Savior. Through all of the scripture study, prayers,experiences and promptings I have come to know more of who Jesus Christ is. I know my Savior lives that he loves me and everyone else with an indescribable love. He suffered and died for all of our sins and made it possible that we can all be resurrected and return back to our Heavenly Father. Heavenly Father loves us and because He does he gave us the Book Of Mormon and Modern day prophets to guide us. That book has given me so much help in the hard times and joy in the good times. I know it is a true book of God and we can get closer to God by reading that book. I know that this church is true. I have no doubt about that. I love my Savior and Redeemer. I Love this work and this church with all my heart and I was glad to be able to serve a mission. I wouldn't have done it any other way.  

Love you all!!

Elder Miles Diede

May 5

We had a meeting today and we email now so here it is.;)

Well this week was a week like any other. We did not have very many lessons planned when it started and it ended that way. It can be a little bit frustrating sometimes because we don't have very many solid investigators and no one that we meet on the street really wants to meet us again, but they listen to us on the street when we talk to them for the first time. but we are meeting a lot of really cool people and seeing cool miracles every single day. I'm pretty sure these next couple of weeks will have  and see the most miracles that i have ever seen in my life. 

The one investigator that we did meet with this week was an interesting one. We meet him in his office(he is a building security guard) and he likes to get on his computer when we are with him, which makes him not focus very much. We are working on getting him to come to the church and meeting us. He kept his commitment to read in the Book of Mormon and read the introduction page and a little into the testimonies at the front. He is a really sweet old man, we just have to meet him in an environment that is more receptive to the spirit. 

My studying this week was studying more about desire. The Joke in our house is that I am trunky, and i think it is because I talk a ton about desires and I share lots of them and want to know and ton, but also because the other elders like watching me squirm realizing im coming home soon. :)  but its ok im not trunky and I know it Elder Miller knows it and God knows it so what else really matters.  My studying was also focused on Patience which turned out to be a miracle later because I went on exchanges with Elder C., a district leader in my zone from hawaii, and he wanted to be trained on that same subject.

We had a really good exchange and we did lots of missionary work together. He is doing his job of district leader very well. The district there is very close, they are all very good friends, which sometimes can get in the way, but I talked to Elder C.i a little bit about that. I don't see any huge concerns with Elder C. or the district. Elder C. is a blessing to me. He shared some of the things he has been going through with me, not in any specifics but enough where i could understand. He is literally the definition of love for me. This big huge Hawaiian teddy bear just loves everyone. He has blessed my life these past 2 transfers. He is my miracle for the week.

so i will call you 9 am my time on monday, i will write you my testimony next week too!!

Love you lots

Elder Miles Diede

Priesthood Blessings

This week was not bad at all. We didn't get to meet any of our investigators for a sit down lesson this week .  We did however get to give our recent convert the priesthood this week. It was a really sweet experience.  We have passed him over to the ward really well. Our young mens president is taking care of pretty much everything he has got him started doing Duty to God and is starting on working on getting him to the temple. He is doing really good and is participating really well in sunday school and young mens. He loves going to church so much, but not for us for actual church and the members there.

We had a mission tour and Pres. Ringwood came and talked to us. He talked about Moroni 10 and desires and mercy. It was super spiritual and it gave me a lot of things to think about and ponder. 

study this week was focused shifted gears at the end of the week because of the Mission tour. At the beginning of the week my studies were just the normal reading the Book of Mormon,Jesus the Christ and all of that good stuff, but then it changed to learning more about mercy and desire. When they talked a lot about that in mission tour it stuck out to me and made me want to study it more. So i wrote down a lot more of my desires this week and it made me grow more. Maybe only another inch, but hey that is one more inch i needed.

I went on exchanges this week with a district leader and it was pretty hard but fun. He has a little bit of a problem not talking about the gospel when he is talking to people on the street, he talks about his life before alot. I noticed that and brought it up with him.  We talked a little bit about removing bits and pieces of the things that are holding you back from serving with your all. We talked about burning the bridges back to home and putting everything from your old life in a shoebox  and pulling out that shoebox after your mission and picking out the things you need and leaving the things you dont in the box.  He seemed to like that a lot and he is going to make a list of the things that he can change and start to change them. I liked the exchange, it gave me ways I can change as well.

My miracle this week was that Elder Miller and I became way more close this week. Nothing that Elder Miller did, but there just seemed like there was a wall between us, but now that wall has crumbled more and we are able to work alot better together.

Love Miles

also i may email 1 day later next week.

picture- Meat Buffet(this place is my favorite restaurant in korea)

DMZ and Piano Guys

This week was a pretty great. For investigators this week the only one that we met was Zaur, our middle eastern friend. We talked with him about who God is, prayer and the Book of Mormon. He was really interested in prayer. We are not really sure what his interest is but he is really open with us. He is not one of those normal Muslims that try and convert you, he has interest in the differences in Christianity. Then we got our recent convert all set up with the Gift of the Holy Ghost, and the ward gave him new scriptures and set him up for seminary. he still loves church and is ding good he is just super busy with test time. 

Ok time for you to get jealous 

One cool story i read this week was the story of Lehonti and his demise. Amalickiha plays the role of Satan in this one. He tells Lehonti to come down from his safe point in his camp and come meet him. That was the mistake. He came down from the place he was protected at and fell into the trap eventually getting poisoned and having his enemy take over his army. We are the same we cannot come down, even an inch, of where we are safely living within the gospel standards. If we do Satan takes hold and kills us by degrees. I have made some new goals this week that will help me try not to come down at all and stay at the highest level of work and living possible.

1. We went to the JSA and got a private tour from the military. We literally stepped in North Korea!! It was super intense and you could feel the tension in the air. We saw a couple North Korean guards

 and had a great view of the north Korean propaganda city. It was SO cool! definitely a once in a lifetime experience.

2. My recent convert who was baptized 2 weeks ago was confirmed this week and is doing super good. he is all set up to start seminary and get the priesthood soon! I was a little bit worried with him for a while because he wouldn't pick up the phone, but he is doing good!

3. Time to get Jealous;) so you know the Piano guys right? 2 of their members served in Korea and they came to Korea for a tour. The did a fireside for our mission and it was super awesome. They are all super funny.It was cool that they came, but the cooler part was that I got to see all of the friends that I have made during my mission one last time, as well as a lot of the ward members from some of my other wards. Man I love the people I have served with and around and the people I have served. The best two were my recent convert from one of my other areas and the kid that I trained from New Zealand. the fireside was super spiritual, it is amazing how the right type of music can bring the spirit in the room in about 2 seconds. gotta love it;)

Love you!!!!!

Great Week

Hey

 

Sorry i was late i was meeting a really good friend for lunch:) see picture.

 

This week was a pretty great week  for us. I felt like it was a little bit of spiritual warfare because we went from mission leadership council to actually doing the training, which ours went super well. It was a super spiritual meeting and we all did a good job at involving everyone and getting everyone to talk. Then we went from that to going on exchanges with the assistants and had a day break and then dived into General Conference. It was a very packed spiritual week this week.

In the midst of that we managed to pick up a couple new investigators. One is from some middle eastern country whos name i have still not been able to pronounce right and the other is a amn who first wanted to know how they heck two foriegners could speak Korean so well. We met with him and he is pretty interested in what the Book of mormon is. he does not go to another church, but he has quite a bit of religious interest so he knows quite a bit about our church. They both look like good prospects to meet in the next couple of weeks.

my studying this week have all almost been focused on what event was coming up next. I did alot of prep for general conference this week and it payed off. I think that this is the general conference where I have gotten the most revelation and more things stuck out to me. 

There is not much else that I feel like i need to say. Life is good, our zone is good, I have no concerns. Being a missionary is literally a huge miracle in my life. I love it and wouldnt change it for the world. 

We get to go on a sick tour of the DMZ on wednesday and I am pumped!! Love you lots!!!

 

Have fun with the pics!!

 

Miles

Happy Easter

Hey!!

It was a very sweet week this week. 

First off Elder Miller is super awesome to work with! He is from Orem/Hawaii. He is 1/2 Tonga so i get another hard working Polynesian companion.  i love him lots and we work super hard together!! I'm glad that he gets to be my last companion on my mission.

So good news! Our investigator was baptized this last week! It started out a little bit scary, because he didn't come to our meeting before church, then sacrament meeting then Sunday school, so we were freaking out that he wasn't going to come. He also wasn't answering his phone, but one of our members finally got in contact with him. So we got Elder Weight to come down and baptize him.  It was super stressful. He came and his baptismal service went pretty smooth. It would have went better if he would have come to more of church, but hey whatever works. His parents didn't come to the baptism which was a little bit of a bummer, but we talked a little bit about missionary work so inviting his friends and family will come soon. our bishop was really strict about pictures and Elder Weight came a little late so we didn't get any in white pictures.

We didn't get to meet with any of our investigators this week, they were all busy.

I read a ton of Jesus the Christ this week! I was trying to get it so I could read all the way through and get to the Crucifixion and Resurrection on the days of the week that they happened, but i ended up skipping earlier bits of the book in order to read the Easter week stories.  Also I read the stories in the bible along with it. I love this Easter season and the chance we get to share it with everyone! I know my redeemer lives! He suffered for all of us and made it so we can live forever!! I love this gospel!!

My miracle this week was honestly just working with Elder Miller. We have two different styles, but they both get the job done really well. Sometimes they don't mix very well together, but we are doing lots of fun work and we are looking at one of the busiest weeks of my mission this next week. I'm super excited for the next couple of weeks. Also getting a baptism on Easter:)

Love you lots!!

Miles