I hope things are going great in Orem, and I hope it isnt as hot as it is here haha.
We had a great week here in Mixqui! Claudia and Maria got baptized on Friday and it was such a cool experience! The spirit was so strong, especially hearing Claudias testimony at the end of the program. I was able to sing (Yo se que vive mi Senor) which I think most of you are able to translate into English without my help haha. But it all went really well! I picked and played the other hymns for the service and I picked How Great Thou Art for the first hymn and the next day Claudia told me that that is her all time favorite song and she almost started to cry when we started singing it! She is going to be such a strong member, she has a great testimony. They both just looked different after the baptism, they were so happy! All of the people she knows have been telling her she has more of a light in her eyes and that she looks different. And most of those people dont even know she was baptized. Baptism is truly a door we all need to enter in to be in the straight and narrow path of the gospel that leads to eternal life!
I've been teaching quite a bit of piano lately! I'm the only one in both the wards in the city that knows piano haha. A lot different from Utah thats for sure haha. But it was so fun to teach all of them! The goal is to have them each play a simplified hymn for the primary program coming up! I was kind of thrown off at first though because piano is spanish is actually a little different! The piano notes are in solfege instead of the alphabet letters haha. So I had to relearn the piano notes in solfege and then teach them all the notes haha. But it{s super fun, and it gives time for some of the young men in the ward to do splits with Elder Howell while I{m teaching.
Guys we have the coolest stake president on the planet. Hands down. President Lozano is super smart, and kind and has quite the background. He used to work for the government, and then he realized all of the corruption that was there. They started ordering him to scam people for money and do other illegal or inappropriate things. He refused to do them and so they send him to jail. Guys this jail was two blocks from his house but he was in there for 20 months before he was proven innocent! In Mexico you have your trial after you spend a lot of time in prison. It{s backwards and its so unfair, and corrupt. But he made the best of the situation and he befriended all the inmates and taught some how to read and some others about the gospel. And get this, he bought a cake for one of the inmates every week. They all loved him! The government ended up offering a lot of money to the inmates if they would kill President Lozano, but nobody would do it because they all loved him! Cake literally might have saved his life. There is no order or rules in some of the Mexico prisons and for that reason they are super dangerous. But Pres Lozano was just telling us how much he learned from his experience. He grew closer to Jospeh Smith and what he went through in jail. I look up to that man so much and his ability to look on the bright side and endure his afflictions. I can't imgagine how hard that would be, especially for his family. And since that experience, he had seen the tv series Prison Break so we talked about our bud Michael Scofield together haha.
We have found a lot of new people this week so every day we are stacked with several lessons and barely any time to contact! But thats a good problem to have haha. Yesterday we had an appointment fall through (Whats new?) but I think it was for a reason because we met a girl named Alicia who is so amazing. She said shes been looking for someone to help her with English for her test coming up, and she also just had one of her family members pass away. God truly sent us in her path so he could help her through our hands. Our first little lesson with her was so spiritual and she has so much potential to be baptized!
I already feel so blessed here in the mission. Especially with the language. Guys the gift of tongues is real. My comp told me I have better spanish than some of the missionaries with more than 9 months in the mission. He tells me every day how amazing it is that I can already speak about 80% fluent (which I definitely think is too high of a percentage haha) but let me tell you guys, it isnt me! I feel like I've done my part with studying the grammar and practicing as much as I can but God has made up the difference and now all of a sudden I can actually talk really well with these people! I still have soooo much more to learn but I have been so blessed and for that I am very grateful.
Don't get me wrong, the mission is not easy. It gets hard at times. Especially at 6:30 AM haha. But theres nothing The Climb by Miley Cyrus and some solid street tacos can't fix.
Elder Howell and I have been blessed for our efforts. Every sunday theres a miracle with church attendance for our investigators! In order for someone to get baptized, they have to assist the church at least three times so we really like when our investigators attend haha. We had an army of 10 come yesterday which isnt including Claudia and Maria who are now members! Sure, most of the people we invited didnt come, but thats normal here because people are legit so flaky haha. The Reyes family were touched by one of the talks in sacrament meeting and now most of them are set to be baptized on the 8th! We also had a woman named Vicki come! We{ve taught her about three times now and she is so awesome. But we didnt think she was gonna come to church because she always tells us she has her other church! Today she came with two of her kids which really surprised us! After the meeting and after Vicki left, the bishop and another member came up to me and told me about how big of a deal it is that Vicki came to the meeting. Apparently she had been a leader of the (Espiritualistas) and a lot of people know her and look up to her. Her husband was also the president of Mixquihuala and they are LOADED with money and they{re low key famous. Haha I had no idea! But I{m so glad she came, hopefully she can feel the truth of these things during our upcoming lessons!
Mosiah 2:41 teaches us that those who keep the commandments of God will be blessed both temporally and spiritually. It tells us to remember the blessed and happy state of those who keep the commandments. I have seen these blessings in my life and in my mission. If we have faith that God will bless us, if we follow the gospel of Jesus Christ, then we will receive those blessings. Strive every day to learn more about what we can do to follow and become more like Christ, then, as the scripture says, we will dwell with God in a state of never ending happiness. I love you all!
Les quiero muchisimo,
Elder Millard
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