Sibling emails part 3 (Jan 2024-

 

beginning Jan 2024

1/29/24)

Dear Graham,

Salt of the Earth: Savor of Men and Saviors of Men

https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/general-conference/1980/04/salt-of-the-earth-savor-of-men-and-saviors-of-men?lang=eng

This was a talk I was prompted to study this past week. I learned a lot from it and wanted to share it with you. Have you ever heard in the scriptures, "the salt of the earth"? This talk does a really good job explaining it and I haven't thought about salt the same since.

Let me know what you think. I know its pretty old, but it is in color and he uses some visuals too. 

I don't want to spoil it for you but he talks about what we need to do to preserve our 'salt'. Mainly by honoring our Priesthood. I hope you know how special you are and trusted by Heavenly Father you are to hold his Priesthood. I took that for granted growing up. I know you are such a great example in your Quorum and God will place boys in your path who need the light that you hold. Remember what privileges amd responsibilities come with holding the power of God. Its a blessing and He is counting on you.

Mom showed me some sweet clips of your basketball this past week! Can't wait to watch you in person next season! Keep working hard and have fun with it.

Love you so much brother. Have a great week!

-Elder Miller

His response: 

For Elder Miller

 

Thank you, brother, for the email. I was sick just the next day and it gave me time to think about it while I was at home.

I really enjoyed this talk because it helped me refocus on what’s important. I think it is a great topic that isn’t really shared now days. Thanks for recommending it for me.

My favorite parts of the talk are when he shares about the difference between being saviors of men and savors of men. At first, I thought it meant to be a “saver” of men and then I realized the true meaning. Still, I think it has to do a little with being a “saver” because we literally have to save ourselves, so we don’t lose our savor. (priesthood responsibility) A missionary would say it better. 

I agree with you when you said that we need to honor our Priesthood. God has trusted us to help him spread the gospel and we need to be on our “A” game. That is a good reminder for me.

I also loved the part in the talk when the Savior said, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, I give unto you to be the salt of the earth; but if the salt shall lose its savor, wherewith shall the earth be salted? The salt shall be thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out and to be trodden under foot of men” (3 Ne. 12:13).

I love it when the Savior talks in parables because it brings so much more meaning to what he is trying to teach. I think what the savior is trying to say is that if we lose God’s trust and do not honor our priesthood, God can’t depend on us to do his work.

Thank you again for the talk and email. It was fun to read them. If you ever have other talks that you’re studying, send them this way. I would love to get them. I’ll try to score more points for you for my game. Thanks for watching my clips. I hope you have an amazing week! I love you so much brother.

Love, Graham

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April 15/2024

To Seth and Sadie

to Seth, Sadie

Just wanted to take a sec to shoot you both a quick email. Happy Anniversary! Crazy two years. A whole mission, you've been comps for a minute now.

I am so pumped to spend a lot of time around you both here in the fall. Its gonna be a party.

Thanks for your example to me of hard work and what a successful marriage looks like. You both impress me a lot and I look up to you!

Means a lot to me that you both always try to say hi on pdays! Its fun to hear from you. Thanks for making time for it on top of school, work, and everything else.

Im trying my best to stay locked in these last few months and I wanted to get your thoughts being RMs. What do you wish you would of done, or did do to really soak in those last months in the field. Don't feel like you have to respond with an email, if its easier we can talk about it next monday. Whatever works best.

Love you both, your both in my prayers!

-Elder Miller

To Graham

Hey Brother! I love you and just wanted to write you a short email because I am thinking about you.

Thanks for keeping me updated on the lakeshow. I hope they do good in the playoffs but I know you and dad will watch and cheer for me. Playoff mode LeBron is about to cook!

I hope school is going good and that you have been finding some good boys to be around.

Always fun to hear about your basketball open gyms and workouts. You impress me with going to those even though sometimes its hard or not super fun. Cant wait to play ball together when I get home. I can see it now, put anyone to guard us if I drive and then kick it out to you for a splash three no one is stopping us. Thatll be so fun.

I hope since conference youve been able to think more about some of those talks and that you enjoy reading the scriptures. Thats so important and I wish I would of been better about it when I was home.

I love you so muh graham. Excited to talk to you next monday!

-Elder Miller

To Lainey:

Oh hey Lainey!

I love you sister, thanks for always hopping on to say hello to me on pdays. I love talking to you and seeing your smile.

It makes me so excited thinking about you playing basketball and seeing the clips mom posts. You have gotten so good and itll be fun to play together when I get home.

I hope your school is going good. Give the dogs some hugs for me. 

I want you to know that I am praying for you and that I think about you. Youre gonna be a young women when I see you next! What!?

If you ever come to Guyana you would have to be careful because eveyone would look at your long blonde pretty hair and try to cut it off you! Yikes! Like old guys riding on bikes chasing you with no teeth. Hahaha (Miles, youre wierd). Just kidding probably not, but that would be funny.

Have a really good week!

Love you Lainey! You are so special to me!

-Elder Miller

To Ave

odo bem? How is your Portuguese coming!?

I am so pumped for your trip! I don't know if Ill be here in Guyana when you come to the continent but either way, youll be so much closer and thatll be so much fun to think about that.

Ill probably end up talking to you today about how the ACT went. I hope you felt good about it.

Crazy to me you are wrapping ip your junior year. That is actually so nuts. All I can think of is you as a freshman but there is a big gap. Thats wild. Anyway, Im happy Ill be around for your senior year if that means basketball or not, itll just be fun to be around and hear how it goes.

Know I am praying for you Avery. Not too much longer until we can go on a drive in the truck together again. 

Give the little kids hugs for me.

Thanks for always hurrying (running) out of school to talk to me. Miss you!

-Elder Miller

To Emma

Hey Emma, I never got to thank you for that email last week. It meant a lot to me, becuase I know you are busy. Thanks so much for taking the time to do that.

Your weekend with Noah and the family looked fun! They all told me he is pretty cool. It was wild seeing those pics with you two and the kids and dad. Thats pretty big meeting the fam. Not trying to add any stress or pressure to anything, I am just happy for you.

A real quick question for you. With my last few months on the mission I really want to stay locked in, because sometimes my mind drifts forward and I just dont want to spend the end of my mission with that mindset. I guess my question is what did you do or wish you would have done at the end of your mission to soak it in at the end. Maybe really vague but Id love to hear your thoughts. Doesnt have to be an email but whenever we talk again if you want.

Love you Emma! Hope school is going okay and that you feel on top of it all.

Haha after saying I dont want to get lost in the future too much, I am so stoked though for here in about 3½ months! It is going to be so fun and makes me smile just thinking about it...

Anyway, thanks for the example you are to me!

Have a good week!

-Elder Miller

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4/19/24

Elder Miller! 

Thank you so much for taking the time to email, time is a hot commodity as a missionary on p-day so it means so much to me to hear from you in this way. Sorry my response has been a second in coming, I have just really been thinking about the question you asked me at the end, I don't know if the wait was worth my answer but I have spent a lot of time reflecting on the last couple months of my mission and some things I wish I had done differently or things I'm grateful I did... 

The weekend with Noah and the family was so fun! It went better than I had hoped it would and that both terrifies me and makes me really happy. He fit right in and i'm convinced Sadie and Seth like him better than they like me haha. I feel like 1/2 of me is terrified that it is him and the other 1/2 is terrified that it isn't. So obviously I am a mess in my head haha. He is doing FSY for the summer and is supposed to find out where he will be this weekend (it could be anywhere in the states which will make time zones and getting together a little more difficult but I'm really excited for him). Trying to make the next couple days count, but every time we are together I just get a little sad thinking of not getting to see him in person. But after you called me out about maybe being a moody roommate when you get home, I am committed to make the most of it and to find the positives. The summer really will be so fun, I mean you're coming home!!!!!!! I literally can't wait, and I'll be teaching swimming lessons and working at Luoies with Kevin and Dean... I'm excited. I just wasn't anticipating a boy being in the mix, but on the bright side, it got me out of the singles ward, lets goooo! He is going to try and come up to Idaho May 14-16 right before he starts training in Provo and I really hope it works out; it would be so fun to see him, the fam would love it, and Mama and Ave could meet him in person. Fingers crossed that the timing of it all works out. He has never been to Idaho (or washington/oregon PNW) so that's kinda fun, but I told him he can't come to Meridian and judge Idaho off of it, he needs to see McCall before he can have an opinion on Idaho. 

I'm taking him with Sadie, Seth, and I to Bountiful on Sunday for dinner at aunt Jennies. It is slowly getting out to extended family that I'm dating someone which is kinda fun but also kind of annoying. I am really excited to have him at Jennies though, he is so fun! 

School is going well. We are in the thick of finals week, so no more classes at BYU for me, just a couple more tests to go. I took my music and religion finals today and they both went well so that is a blessing. I have two more scheduled for Wednesday (wellness and microbiology), micro is the only one that I am stressing about but I still have a couple days to study and gear up so that will be good. I am ready for a brain break with school, it has been a really great last two semesters at BYU and I will miss being a student here. I think I will still come and study on the weekends at the library though, I really like it there. My big project right now is getting everything squared away for dental hygiene- there are a lot of random hoops to jump like background checks, CPR certification (I spent the whole day yesterday at the doctor trying to get a drug test and a HepB Titer, I had to get my blood drawn and I don't do very well w needles so as soon as he pricked me the tears just fell haha, kind of embarrassing at 22 but we got it done). I start work at Luoies on the 1st, I'm pumped. 

Okay okay, enough about me. I really have been thinking about your question about staying present. I asked some of my roommates what they thought and talked about it with Noah (not in regards to you or that you had asked but just about the end of his mission, don't worry I am trying really hard to keep full family loyalty and never to introduce you two on facetime, been there done that and I would never do it to you, so rest easy). I have been so impressed with how well you have seemed to take your entire mission in stride, I think a lot of that is your mellow, go w the flow personality, but it is also so evident that you love the people there and have found your purpose for being a missionary which has been so cool to watch. 

I was sitting in institute yesterday and someone made the comment, " the only way you can be present in the moment is to surrender a past you can't change and to trust God with a future you can't control" I feel like the last couple months of my mission I constantly had the same two thoughts. 1. just like you, I was worried I was focusing too much on coming home that I would look back at the last transfer and regret not being more present and 2. that I could have been so much better. I could have talked to more people, or been more willing to speak Italian even if it meant messing up, or loved harder, or found the positive... there were so many things...  If I could go back to where you are at right now, I wish I would have let myself be excited about going home. To give myself space to recognize that missions end and that is a GOOD thing! They aren't meant to be forever, and I think I let myself feel so guilty for thinking about it (labeling myself as trunky or "reisty" :) {I have no idea how to spell that} That I missed a lot of cool opportunities to prepare to come home and to be present. 

Something that I did do though, and I'm so grateful that I did, was to make a "bucketlist". You only get to be a full time, tag wearing, missionary for like 3 more months. What is it that you want to do in the Trinidad Port of Spain, Georgetown mission before you go home? I remember my list had things like, "get gelato every day the last month, find x amount of people, read through the book of Mormon one more time as a missionary, bear my testimony on fast sunday, be super diligent in my exercise and staying out until 9, serving my companion, writing down phone numbers and addresses of people that were really important to me...." It is total fourth quarter mentality, make your list and make it happen. 

No one serves a mission perfectly, but I think in a selfish way, a mission is as much for you as it is for all the people you loved and served. Don't beat yourself up for feeling real feelings and for being excited. YOU SHOULD BE! You've served so fully and so well for so long, you have a couple minutes left to give it your all and to go out with a bang. Recognize when your mind wanders to home or to being done, let yourself sit there for a second, and then soak up all the time you have left because I promise, you will get home, and you'll wake up the day after the airport and it will feel like you blinked. Like some sort of weird fever dream, like there is no way that I just spent 18 months away. I think about my mission every single day. It has completely changed the person that I am and the things that are most important to me. & it is so obvious that it has done the same for you and that you will treasure this experience. 

Keep up the great work. Find people like crazy, make a bucket list if you want ;) and most of all, be prayerful about it. God knows the way that you are feeling and He can and will provide strength and focus for you i the last couple weeks. He knows your heart and is CRAZY proud of the determination and the effort that you are giving this. It speaks volumes about you that you would even think to ask this question, it means that it matters to you and that you are striving to give it everything that you have. NO REGRETS! 

I hope you also asked dad and Sadie what there thoughts were on this, I bet that they had some really good insights. 

Holy cow miles I love you so much! Sorry for my novel. You amaze me and I am so grateful for the sacrifice that you are making right now, I know the area/comp/timing is hard sometimes, but it all "comes to pass" so don't wish it away too quickly! I love seeing all of your pictures in the chat! Some blonde girl is going to hit you up so quick. "The Miles Miller family - established 2024" hahaha. I love you more than you know and think about you every single day! God's speed! 

Em 

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4/20/243Miles!!!
I have been so terrible at emailing you and I’m sorry:( I’m so grateful I get to talk to you every week!! I absolutely love it!

I can’t believe we will be closer when I’m in Brazil than we ever have been in like 2 years! That’s crazy. I feel so nervous about my trip. I’m really excited and I know that I will have an amazing experience but I’m still so scared haha. Emma told me that I shouldn’t worry about it right now because then I’ll just end up worrying about it twice instead of just when it actually does come closer so I have been trying to not stress or think about it too much haha. It will be good mission prep for sure!

I can’t believe I’m almost a senior either! It’s so crazy- I don’t feel old enough to almost be done hahaha. It’s even more crazy to think that you’ll be home before I start my senior year! Ekk I’m so excited to see you!!

I love you so much Miles and I can’t tell you how much!! You’re such role model and I am so proud of you! I look up to you and I think when I go on my mission I will especially look up to you because your mission will have been the most recent. What a great example I have!! I hope the rest of the week is great! I can’t wait to talk to you on Monday. Know that you are constantly in my prayers and thoughts! Love you!


Love lightening AVE

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5/8/24

Miles,

Thanks for your email, and I try to get back to you as fast as I can. It is so sweet that you’re going back to Aruba. Those people need you one last time. 😊

I know you will be sad, but the Lakers are out and me and dad have been pretty depressed. Haha. Lebron looks older and he can’t finish most of the time, but he still stays with it. 

School has been good, but I want summer to come so that we are closer to seeing you. It feels so close! Open gym is okay, but it is not a very good group to be around. My shot is kind of whack, but I’m getting better in the paint so I can go up against you. Haha

How have you been? Your pictures are so cool,and it makes me want to be there too.

Conference was a while ago, but I still remember some of the talks. One of my favorites was the spiritual momentum one by Elder Renlund. I also shared a little about this in my own talk I gave in Church. You are a great at keeping your momentum and being a great missionary. 

I love you so much, brother, and if you need anything you can tell me on P-day. Have a great rest of your week and if you have any talks, I would love to read them. I’m so proud of you. 

-Graham

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From Lainey 5/9/24

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5/16/24

Hey Miles,

I am sorry that it has taken me so long to respond to your email. 

It’s crazy that you are on your last two transfers. We’re so excited to have you back so soon. From all that I have heard from you and read in your emails, you are as focused and dedicated as anyone could hope to be in the last few months of their missions. I’ve been touched by the love that you have for the people around you, and it’s obvious to me that they love you back. You’re a blessing to them and I don’t know if anything I could say about the end of your mission could make you more dedicated than you already are. You keep being you. Everything will work itself out back home, so there’s not much to be worried about lol. Live it up and love those people every second you have left with them. You’re a good man and a great missionary. 

All I can say is that I am grateful to have gotten closer to you while you’ve been gone. I hope that we’ll only get closer when you come home. Excited to talk to you tomorrow.

Love you bro,

Seth

**********************************************************

For Abe leaving for HXP trip, from Miles

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7/21/24 Avery to Miles and Miles response- last email q/ ave

Miles!!!
I meant to send this before we left for the family reunion but I didn’t so I’m sorry I this is later in the week. I have been thinking about you all week though and what these last couples of weeks must be like for you. I can’t tell you how much I have loved watching you become the person you have become through these last two years. It has been such an example to me and everything you talk about it has made me think about what it will be like for me in a little over a year. I truly hope to be the kind of missionary you are! You are so impressive to me and I look up to you so much!! Brazil definitely gave me a wake up call to how hard it will be to just leave home- and I was just gone for 2 weeks!!

Miles I love you so much and I cannot wait to see you!! I’m bummed that you won’t be home for too long but I’m so hyped to live it up with you!! I am so excited for the weekends when you come home from Provo, once a month at least;) I am so pumped to just spend time with you and show you how clean the truck looks haha;) also I’m so down to finish Hawaii 5’0 with you if you want too:)

You are constantly in my thoughts and prayers during these last couple weeks. I have no doubt the islands will miss you more than I could even imagine but I know without a doubt that you have blessed them so incredibly much!! You are such a blessing to me, our family, all the people you have taught and talked with on your mission, and everyone you come in contact with. I love you Elder Miller, never forget it!!

Love Lightening️

His response:

Bom dia Avery!

Thanks so much for your email the other day! It means so much to me!

I can't tell you in just an email how excited I am to see you all. I've been thinking about that day for so long now and I can't believe it is only a week away. 

Haven't said that, recently as it has become more real that I am leaving I have realized how hard it will be to let go of this place. I'm sure you know what I am talking about when you left Brazil. This has been my life and I'm going to be so sad to leave it behind. Also just being a missionary is so legit. I am so excited for you! It has given my life so much purpose these past two years. But there is a time and a season to everything and I can't wait for it to be that time for you!

I am bummed too that I don't get too much time at home with you all. But it's about 3 weeks and we'll party it up for sure! I'm down for Hawaii 5'o too!

I love you Avery! See you next week!

-Elder Miller

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7/22/24 last email  Sadie to Miles

Miles, 

I'm so sorry that it has taken me this long to reply to your sweet email. Thank you for sending it-- that was very thoughtful of you. Haha, yes, we've technically been comps for over a whole mission, I've never thought about it like that. I love Seth-- he's so good to me. I can't wait for you to get to know him better and to get to have you over all the time in the fall, that's going to be so much fun. You're going to get tired of me inviting you over;)

Holy smokes, Batman, you are like almost ten days away from completing your missionary service. Sometimes people say the time has flown, but I don't feel that way at all! It's been too long since I got one of your giant brother hugs. 

One thing I just wanted to mention here is about your homecoming. We've already talked about this briefly, but we won't be able to get off of work midweek to come to the airport.:/ I can't wait to see that video. And then Seth and I are heading to California that weekend and we will come get you from the San Diego airport I think that Wednesday or Tuesday, so there's still an airport.:) But I just wanted to tell you that I'm sorry we can't be there, and that we won't be up in Idaho on Sunday for your homecoming talk. I've been feeling bad about that and I hope it doesn't come across like I don't care about seeing you right away-- I've seriously been thinking/talking about nothing else. Anyways, I hope you understand and that doesn't hurt your feelings. You're so important to me, and to Seth. We can't wait to spend the week in California with you-- it's gonna be a blast. 

Well, for months now I've been thinking about the question you asked in your email: "I'm trying my best to stay locked in these last few months and I wanted to get your thoughts being RMs. What do you wish you would of done, or did do to really soak in those last months in the field." I know that by now you're only down to ten days or so, but they still count and they'll pack a punch. Here's just a couple of my thoughts: 

These aren't in any order, but if I was going to prioritize them, this would be #1 FOR SURE. Please take some time to write in your journal in the next little bit. It'll just be too crazy when you get home and you should put pen to paper in Aruba at least one more time. Those records will be such a strength to you in your life. While it may sound gaggy, I've only been home from my mission for about three years and I have forgotten SO much. I haven't really gone back to read my journals yet-- and I will someday when I'm more ready-- but I know that it's there. Occasionally Mama sends me excerpts from my journal that she has and it's always been likely a timely letter to myself when I'm struggling that I just don't remember writing. I've had companions send me their entries about us too, it's just so fun, it's really the only way to capture this whole thing. So please please please do that. 

Some of this could be totally irrelevant to you, I don't know, but I'm just gonna tell you what I think from my experience. I would just pass on feeling guilty about being excited/relieved to be home. At first I felt bad to be so happy to be home and be done with my mission finally, and I just think it's totally normal to feel that way. Like I said, maybe you won't struggle with that and you'll totally just miss your mission, who knows, you're a better missionary than me;) But just know Heavenly Father is incredibly proud of you. Your service yes, the people you taught, yes, the people you baptized, yes, the kindness you showed others, yes, the companions you blessed, yes, but most of all He is proud of you and He knows you. 

I can imagine that you've come to know God in a way that is more personal than anything you've ever experienced. Part of that I think is due to desperation lol, but part of it is also the nature of consecrating yourself to Him. I would encourage you to focus on that above every other goal you set as you come home. It's easy to get caught up in trying to maintain all the missionary things that are so good: exercise, no sugar lol, early to bed, early to rise, daily scripture study, time blocking, etc, but if there is one thing I regret most it is not keeping up with that same level of communication-- or continuing in the channel of communion-- that I had developed with Heavenly Father. It was more than personal prayers at the time-- it was like my prayers were so connected to my every waking minute. It's hard to explain, but I bet you know what I mean. It was like walking with God. It just felt like He was close. I've struggled to feel that in the same way the past few years, and I think that partly because I just didn't practice thinking/praying/loving Him intentionally because it had just been so natural while I was a missionary. I hope that makes sense. So I think as you prepare to come home, I would just ask you to think about that. He can be as close to you in five years as He is now. I'm a bit ashamed to say that I just didn't continue to nurture that relationship as I should have and it's just harder to focus on now than it was when I was in that mode. Obviously I'm working on that all the time. Like as a missionary, your closeness to Him is level 10. You worked hard and now you're there. Then when I came home, I just got rusty. I've come to places where I felt like I was at Level 2. I'm working my way back up to 10-- but it would've been so much easier if I just didn't take Level 10 for granted when I returned home and if I cared for that relationship more closely. I'm rambling now-- I hope that makes sense. Just stay close. 

Be patient with us, your crazy family lol. That was a hard thing to get thrown back into when I got home and I wasn't as patient as I should have been. We love you and we've missed you, Mama is going to squeeze your eyeballs out, and the rest of us are still annoying and going to make fun of you all the time. Just an FYI. 

Just have fun-- you're going in to an incredible next chapter and heaven only knows how long that will be. Just enjoy where you are. Mine only lasted two months and Em's lasted two years almost, so just enjoy it-- all the rest of your life will be coming at you soon enough. Enjoy those littles especially. Oh, Miles, you have know idea how much those three kids adore you. Just spend so much time with them, they need you. Especially Uncle G. He's a sweet kid. They all are. Lainey's just going to come up to you and hug you randomly all the time, just squeeze her. Avery is so grown up you're never going to believe it. She's hardly a kid anymore. She's going to be too cool to smother you all the time, but spend some time talking to her. It's totally her love language and she's got so much to say-- it's really taken me by surprise. She needs that time. Just look out for them. 

Elder Miller, I'm pathetically in tears now as I'm trying to wrap this up.  You're so special to me. I'm a little rough around the edges and I can be so easy to butt heads with, but I hope you and I can start a new adult friendship in this part of our life-- a little different than when we were both kids haha. I'm just excited for you to be here and also nervous that I'll mess it up. I hope you'll forgive me and let me keep trying. I'm just so happy you're coming home. Holy cow, I'm proud of you. You have been an absolutely magnificent example of being in the service of the Lord. Every picture you've sent your whole mission has just melted my heart-- you're kind, handsome, thoughtful, and the love and fear of God just radiates from your smile in those pictures-- I can't even tell you. It's been impactful. Those people are never going to forget you. Stay in touch with some if you can. 

My testimony is that this is the best thing you've ever done, no doubt about that, but the best is yet to come. This mission has really prepared you to stand up and apart in the world. It's hard. Harder than I realized when I was a kid. Just stay close to God-- He needs you. I just want you to know that I think I totally scored in the little brother department and I love you more than I can really say. Can't wait to hug you. 

Hurrah for Israel. 

I love you, 

Sadie 

his response:

Can't tell you enough how much your email meant to me this past week. I read it two times over and it made me so grateful for you.

Don't worry about the airport. I get that it doesn't make too much sense for you. I will look forward to that airport hug in California. That trip will be so much fun.

I will make sure to be good about my journal this week and write down all the emotions that are about to flood in.

I loved what you said about letting myself be okay with feeling relieved being done with the mission. I think I'll feel it all. So excited to put a check mark next to the mission, so excited to mix things up, most excited to see all of you. But then at the same time it will be so hard to leave this behind. My mission has meant everything to me. It literally has changed the course of the rest of my life. It'll be so hard to take off the tag. But what you said about the best is yet to come has brought me comfort.

"Walking with Jesus" is the best way to put it! It hasn't been constant and I wish I would've walked with Him more often then dragging my feet behind every so often. But it really has been a connection so much stronger than anything before in my life. Prayer is something totally different for me now. The mission has taught me how the spirit speaks to me. I will make sure it is my biggest goal when I get home like you said to keep that relationship and communication. I now know exactly what it feels like when I don't have the spirit with me and I want to hunger after its companionship post mission.

I love you Sadie! Thanks for sharing with me all of the advice and your powerful testimony. Whether you have felt like you're at Level 2 or 10 spiritually, you have been a constant role model to me of what a missionary should be like and what post mission should work towards. I'm not just saying that. I take notes often from my big sister and the example you have set for each of us.

I wish I could say I'm fluent in Spanish because that would be so fun with you, but I'm not (not even close) and totally still sound like a gringo. You'll have to give me the pass, but I still think it will be fun to practice with you. 

Our relationship post-mission means so much to me too. I hope you'll be able to see a big difference between 2 years ago and now in the way I treat you. We are going to have so much fun and so many memories to be made ahead.

See you in a couple weeks! Te amo

-Elder Miller

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Graham's last letter to Miles

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