¡Tan Rapido el Tiempo!

Que Honda cuates!?

My mind is playing tricks on me holy crap. I literally just wrote home yesterday. Time is on a whole different dimension here in the mission field. I'm already almost half way done with my kid. I hope everything is going great back at home! The fires sound pretty sketchy but hey at least they make for good sunsets.

This week was pretty insane, but we were also blessed with quite a bit of success! On Tuesday, my kid and I went down to Pachuca for the meeting with all trainers and trainees. I was there just 6 weeks ago! Towards the end of the meeting, Pres was telling us about how there is no schedule for leadership. He then mentioned that there are two trainers in the room that have 6 weeks in the field. He got emotional as he talked about how he calls them when theyre ready, and that they are callings from the Lord. It meant at lot to hear those words and feel the revelation behind the decision that he made to have me train.

Im not gonna lie, Wednesday was rough. I'll spare y'all the details but the two main things were that we had an eternally long zone meeting due to some disobedience of missionaries in our mission (and now our music rules are a lot more strict), and my kid dropped and lost our phone in a combi. This phone had hundreds of important contacts. And to this day we havent been able to communicate with anyone including investigators. We're blessed with amazing neighbors that have helped us with a few important calls but we just need a working phone back! I didnt realize how important the phone is as a part of work. Especially with an area as big as ours. We picked up a new phone after a zone conference that we had on Friday but we{re still waiting for signal to come. It's really trying my patience haha but I know everything will be ok.

This week I contacted this girl named Adriana in a combi and after about 10 minutes of talking, she let us get off the combi with her to go teach a lesson to her family! The lesson went really well and they already accepted a baptismal date! It{s the best feeling getting great new investigators. I'm so grateful we were able to find them.

During the combined zone conference (four zones) on Friday, Pres said "We have seen a companionship opening an area, and in the first week having 6 with a date, 5 in sacrament meeting, and 16 new investigators" as I look at my kid and give him a fist bump. Hahaha it{s not the numbers that matter but Its nice to have your hard work recognized by President.

Saturday night, we helped some of our investigators move some appliances from their house. We moved a bed, a couch, huge dressers, and a closet (dont worry dad, I lifted with my legs, not my back haha) but it started getting dark while we were working and we didnt notice a huge storm coming. Long story short, my kid and I had to bike home for about 30 minutes with POURING RAIN and no light. It was a nightmare. Everything got completely drenched and our clothes got wrecked with mud stains. But wow this experience was a miracle. We made it home safely, nothing was damaged too bad, and for some reason we were just so happy when we arrrived at home. I was hating my life while we were biking but as soon as we got home, we just celebrated and made the best of the situation. Of course it stopped raining the instant that we got home, but we just laughed it off. We ordered pizza and blasted some EFY music to turn the terrible situation into such a fun memory. I'm grateful for my kid and his constant good attitude.

Yesterday we found some golden new investigators! A lady at church told us that her friend wanted to meet us at 6 o clock so she took us there and this family is a gem. They have been through a lot of rough times but they told us that they want to learn and do everything we ask them to do. They said that as soon as we walked in, they felt peace, happiness, and hope that they have never felt before. We were all able to feel the spirit really strong in our lesson, and I'm so excited to see their progress throughout our next lessons. You better believe we{re gonna put them on a date this Wednesday haha.

Right now, the investigators that the old Elders had are giving us a hard time. All of the situatiosn are kids that need and want to get baptized but the parents have problems or want to wait longer or wont give permission. We{re working really hard and I think they'll all be able to get baptized soon but its been frustrating when they keep on asking to postpone because of the smallest details. This just gives us even more motivation, though, to find new investigators that are ready for the message and ready to act on their feelings. We have been blessed for our efforst and things are rolling amazingly here in Ojo de Agua!

Matthew 18:20 says "For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them." what a cool scripture! We can apply this to missionary companionships, church, temples, and in our families! It is so important to stand in holy places and be with good people! God will be in the midst of us when we do our part to spend time with good people, and in good places. We should always strive to have the holy spirit with us because we can't withstand the trials of this day without the help of God. 

I love you all, and I pray for you all every day! 

Cuidense!

Elder Millard

Ojo de Agua!!

Que tal familia y amigos!

Espero que todo ha sido bien chido en Orem! Im jealous of the beautiful fall weather over there, its still blistering hot here haha. We're getting there though, little by little.

What an amazing first week here in Ojo de Agua! We had a lot of success and a lot of fun. We met with all of the investigators from the previous Elders, and there are about four that could be baptized really soon! We also found some really cool people that have a lot of potential! Im excited to see how they progress. There is a lot of work to be done here in Ojo but wow things are already going so good.

It looks like Elder Molina is only going to be with me for one cycle because his visa is coming along pretty fast. Hes gonna have to go to Mexico City for a little interview soon and then we{ll know soon after that when he{s leaving exactly. But I{ll most likely have five more weeks with him. Guys im not even kidding, my companion is literally Moses from prince of Egypt hahahaha he has the exact same face. He is honestly so funny but wow we has a unique personality. Ill enjoy my time with him though, he does good in lessons he just needs to take more initiative and be more confident. Thats why he's in his training though, so he can learn good habits and use them his whole mish!

Ojo de Agua is honestly so amazing. There's a Walmart, Coppel, Little Ceasars, Dominos, home depot, and a place called Chedraui super close so basically we have everything we need. We have been studying our maps like the bible because our area is basically half of Mexico I swear. I'm honestly gonna have to start using my own money because of how many "combis" we have to take haha. But it's been a miracle because we haven't even got lost yet haha! And I guess we'll never have to worry about running out of houses to contact lol. It's kind of hard though because a lot of the different areas have a lot of "privadas" which our gated off communities which most of the time are very closed off to the missionaries, and sometimes they don't let us contact haha. So we just have to find the good spots with the people that will listen to us.

Feliz 15 de Septiembre!! Dia de independencia! We had a "Noche Mexicana" as a stake in Tecamac and it was honestly so fun haha. There were soooo many people there, and the music and dancing was just classic Mexican culture. We even got new investigators that just came to the party with their friend! Pres and Hna Kimball came to the party DECKED out in Mexican atire haha and everyone absolutely loved it. The party was on the 14th and on the actually 15th we had to be home at 7pm because it's too dangerous for Americans to be on the streets after that haha. I'm not gonna lie though, I thought people would be a little more patriotic. I barely saw any flags or decorations or anything but I think its because everything happens at night time when were already in the house haha. Theres a "grita" where everyone gathers in the center of every city in Mexico at 12 am and they all shout "VIVA MEXICO" repeatedly for a long time, I wish I could go, maybe after the mish when I'm allowed to see the number 12am on the clock.

We are being kept nice and busy here in Ojo. We're teaching english, teaching lessons, meeting members, and finding the people who are ready for the gospel! This ward is honestly so legit. They have an amazing program for the youth and every thursday night for mutual it is literally a full out party with food, activities and music and so many people! The chapel is literally just party central and it makes it easy to want to invite investigators to because we know they'll have fun! I'm not gonna lie, the youth get along so much better here than back at home because they meet all of their friends at church and it makes them all want to spend time with each other! The ward leaders are amazing and have already made us feel so welcome. There are about 150 people who assist every church every week so this is definitely one of the stronger wards in the mission but it could also be because our ward boundaries are so huge haha. Unfortunately there are a lot of inactives, but we're doing our best to try and find and reactivate them.

Yesterday was a pretty crazy sunday Im not gonna lie. First off, Elder Molina and I were biking to church in the morning. We turned the corner onto Boulevard Ojo de Agua which is the main street, after a few seconds I looked back and Elder Molina was gone! I waited a little to see if he just got stuck in the traffic or something but he never came so I turned around to go see what happened. Long story short, MY KID GOT HIT BY A CAR. Don't worry, it wasn't too serious but the guy didn't even get out to help my comp, he just kept on driving. I need to track him down, nobody messes with my kid. The front of his bike got wrecked but he only got like two minor bruises. I didnt see any of it happen but Im just glad it wasnt worse. There have been some pretty bike stories here in Mexico. I think thats one of the reasons why we are one of the only two missions in Mexico that has bikes. But its not really dangerous as long as we're careful and drive defensively haha. Second off, we get to church and after we welcomed our investigators, I went to go play some quick prelude for sacrament meeting. Then an hermana came up to me and told me that the hermana who was going to play piano for the primary program didnt show up. So I ended up playing all the songs for the primary program and it was soooo fun! It was honestly an amazing program and even though I had to sight read some of the songs for the first time, it went really well and it was so fun! Theres nothing better than hearing the tesimonies of 5 year old Mexicans who cant even roll their R's or anything yet haha. Third off, we get home yesterday night, walk through the gate and the alarm goes off! This crazy loud alarm that went on for like 10 minutes before we got a hold of our house owner that showed us how to turn it off haha. If it wouldve kept on going for longer, the police wouldve showed up and it wouldve been a lot more complicated of a situation haha. What a sunday haha.

Today we had a zone activity in the center of Tecamac, and it was super fun! We played soccer against another zone and holy crap it was a blast. Soccer is really starting to grow on me. It was super fin because at the end, all of gringos played all the latinos and we won!! It was honestly a miracle haha. It was fun to hang out with the other missionaries. I even found out that the father of one of the Elders in my zone created Fortnight!! Haha super crazy.

One of the common beliefs here in Mexico, especially with the Catholics, is that all we have to do is believe and then we are saved. It doesnt matter what we do during this life, as long as we believe and pray to God, we will be saved. What a sad way to think, honestly. We have a purpose here on Earth. We have things we have to do, a gospel to follow, and our Heavenly Father's will to submit to. Matthew 7:21 says "Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my father which is in heaven." Verse 14 talks about the path of the gospel and it says "few there be that find it". We are all so blessed that we have found this path. Now we just need to focus on sticking with it, and doing the will of the Father. The Lord promises eternal blessings to those that will put him first. I love you all! Have a great week!

VIVA MEXICO,

Elder Millard

WHATTT (transfers)

How are my friends and family doing?? Transfer news came, and Im just gonna get straight to the point. Yall are not going to believe this. I AM ENDING MY TRAINING 6 WEEKS EARLY AND I AM GOING TO TRAIN A BRAND NEW MISSIONARY. Haha yeah I don{t know how exactly that happened haha. That has never happened in the history of the mission. There are 25 new missionaries which are coming this cycle which is the most the mission has ever had, so me and Elder Bolanos (my columbian roomate from the ccm) are going to be trainers for two of the nuevos haha. But guys thats not all. Ready_ IM OPENING AN AREA TOO....ummmmm this is about to be the hardest thing Ive ever done in my life. And the area is called "Ojo de Agua" in the zone "Tecamac" in the state of Mexico! Its close to Mexico City and lets just say its a little bit of a crazier area. My specific area is more rich and safe so Im super excited. As soon as I got the news, I could just feel the people that Im going to meet, and the experiences that Im going to have with my "hijo". Hijo means "son" by the way haha because Im his trainer. I am unbelievably excited but also super nervous, Im about to be praying real hard.

Pres called me Friday night at 10:30 and said "Im about to ask you a question I have never asked before. Are you ready to cut your training in half and train a brand new missionary?" haha I knew it was a possibility because he had mentioned the crazy cycle that was coming but I didnt think itd actually happen. He said that he hates to split me and Elder Howell up because we were just starting to get rolling in Mixquiahuala but he said he really needs and trusts both of us. Pres has been kind of stressed out with this coming cycle because there are 10 new areas being opened which means ten new houses and everything inside the houses too. He has been a busy man. But I am so grateful for this opportunity I have in front of me to help him out and train a brand new missionary. I cant imagine what it will be like in his first interview with Pres. "So uhhh your trainer has a whopppin six weeks in the field" hahahah

Saying goodbye to Mixquiahuala was so hard. I will miss our converts Claudia and Maria, the family Reyes that will be baptized next week, and all of the dope members, especially the family I talked about last week. Lalo, abuelita Cholita, Miguel, Carenia, and everyone else are definitely people I will be coming back to visit. Its hard to leave this place right when I was starting to know the place and the people really good. Elder Howell and his hijo are going to baptize about seven people in the next three weeks because of the work me and Elder Howell did. Everyone thought Elder Howell was gonna go up to be an assistant but he was called as a trainer again. So he will stay here with his new hijo thats coming from Brazil haha. It{ll be hard to miss the results that were awaiting us but I know there is a plan for me to go to Ojo de Agua. Something bigger and better is waiting for me there.

My dad Elder Howell is going to be missed. I learned a lot from him and weve already planned to go to Jazz games tomorrow. We have a super close relationship and I find it unlikely that Ill have that kind of relationship with any of my other companions. Hes my brother. Ill have all of my different companions for a reason but truly Elder Howell was special and we had such a blast in Mixquiahual. Ill never forget my birthplace and all the experiences I had there.

My hijos name is Elder Molina and he is from Ciudad Juarez in Chihuaha! He is super cool and Im excited to work with him. He has really really good enlgish and he can speak french too! He kind of has a different personality but that just means that as a companionship we can relate to a greater spectrum of people! His mission call is actually to California Carlsbad so hes only gonna be here until his visa is figured out. So who knows how long Ill be training him. Im excited to see if he can take the initiative and contact. We were waiting in the chapel for about 10 hours yesterday as president was doing the interviews for a all of the new missionaries. So me and my hijo got to our house at about 10:30 pm.

We both know basically nothing about this place but Ive already seen how great the support is from the members here, so Im not too worried about it. I did this in Mixquiahuala too its just that now im the trainer and not the trainee! Im super excited to get to work here. It looks like we dont have much to start out with but once again thats what happened in Mixquiahuala so we just need to get out and start working!

One of our dope members gave us a little tour of our area today and I'm pretty sure there is not a bigger area than this one in the history of all of the missions in the world. HOLY CRAP. hahahaha there are a bunch of little "fraccionamientos" and each of them are basically a city. It takes 45 minutes to drive in a car from one end of the area to the other. We are going to die on bikes. Theres also little van things called "combis" that are super common for transport that we're gonna have to start using more. I'm just gonna focus on the areas a little closer to the actual colonia "ojo de agua" for now so I dont get us lost for a few days hahaha.

I love you all so much, and I'm so grateful for all of your support. I'm not gonna lie, I'm pretty nervous about this area, there's a lot of pressure laying on me. But I'm definitely more excited than nervous. The hard experiences are the best ones right? 

Cuidense familia y amigos!

Elder Millard

TULA!!

Helloooooo my amazing family and friends!!

This week I had to say goodbye to my tadpole and parasite friends. It was quite the hard goodbye but it was time for them to go. On Friday we cleaned out our "tanke" which is the tank on top of the house that holds all our water. Turns out that there wasn't even anything covering it and the water was nice and dark green with dirt and the parasites and tadpole buddies that I was talking about. It was actually pretty dangerous that we were bathing and doing dishes with that water, so I'm glad we were able to see the little tadpoles or else we never would{ve known haha. We spent four hours getting that thing nice and squeaky clean with the help of our amazing mission leader and bishop. Now our problem is that everything smells like Chlorine haha. 

The doctor for the Mixquiahuala missionaries is a champion. She is part of the family Contreras Candeleria. This family is literally my favorite part of being here in Mixqui. Pres Kimball has all of his trust in this woman, and she definitely has all my trust too. But she had me and Elder Howell go get blood tests done to make sure we're ok. Turns out we both have salmonella poisoning. It wasn't from the water but it's because all the vegetables in this zone have salmonella and most people don't wash them well enough. Weirdly enough, Elder Howell is the one that got sick even though he's been here longer. He's been having a lot of digestive issues but guys for some reason I haven't really had any problems! Sure I have had my moments with diarreah but that's nothing new here in Mexico haha. I do have salmonella but I have prescripted medicine that will get the job done before I start having symptoms.

Guys. The family Contreras Candelaria. I am in love. Seriously we are so grateful to have their love and support as missionaries. There are three families that live in the same little complex with different little houses. All of them come from abuelita Cholita. Guys Cholita is a true homie. She's the woman in the background of the pic of me and Elder Howell eating chicken feet haha. I have officially adopted her as one of my grandmas and now I'm an honorary grandon. Her grandson is our misison leader, Lalo, who is just the best person on the planet. Cholita's daughter is the doctor I was talking about. And one of Cholita's grand daughter's name is Alondra. Alondra has Leukemia, but has such a strong spirit. She is such a light in the family and in the ward. We all really look up to her because despite all of the intense chemo and radiation she's going through, she is always perfectly happy. But guys this family is just so humble. They have a tiny little store that's connected to their house and they all take their little shifts as a family. You can tell they don't have very much money (except for the daughter that's a doctor haha) but they are all always perfectly happy. They also have a parrot named lorito that is almost thirty years old. The parrot always says "hola" and "que paso" or "como estas?" and it's just the funniest thing haha. Apparently he sings too but he gets nervous in front of us haha. He had a friend that died a while ago and it's hilarious because now he legit hates the daughter that's a doctor because he thinks that she killed his friend. He always runs away from her hahaha. That little bird brain never ceases to amaze me. This family is definitely one I want to come back to visit when I come home from the mish.

This week wasn't quite as successful as the others. It's hard to have every week as good as the past couple weeks. Lily is a 9 year old girl who was going to get baptized today but her dad didn't let her go to church last week and he is starting to doubt letting her get baptized. And a lot of our investigators with potential have kind of died off and become more flaky. With those let downs, and the fact the Elder Howell got sick pretty bad this past week, made it hard to have as much success and progress as we've been having. We're still doing really well in general. We're  on track on baptize two-five people this coming week, and we still have some good progressing investigators but we definitely have a lot of work to do if we're going to continue the success. We'll never be satisfied haha

The family that is going to be baptized this week is named the Reyes family. The mom and one of the daughters are basically set for this saturday but the other two daughters still aren't sure. This is the family that literally contacted us and asked for more lessons. Miracle. One of my favorite parts of the mission so far is when the investigators learn something new and their eyes just light up. The Reyes family has learned a lot and they have had so much more joy because of it. Yesterday in fast and testimony meeting, the mom and daughter bore their testimonies about how they have felt since the message of the gospel came into their lives. We're grateful they found us and we're hopeful to clear up the doubts of the two other daughter and eventually get to the father too! 

Next email I will know if Elder Howell and I are staying together. I really hope we do because we're on a roll here and we have a lot to do still but president told us that this cycle there are 25 new missionaries coming. That's more than any other cycle in the history of of the mission Mexico Pachuca. Because of this, president isn{t afraid to make some crazy decisions and changes to accomodate for all the trainers that will be needed. Training is supposed to be 12 weeks and I'm only at 6 but we'll see what happens for this next cycle. Hopefully I'll stay here in Mixqui! I love this place. But I know I'll love wherever I am sent.

Today for pday, Elder Howell and I, and the Progreso elders went with Lalo and his younger brother miguel to the ruins in Tula!! You have to get at least two baptisms in a cycle in order for president to let you go because its actually outside of our mission haha. We all just piled into the back of the truck and road tripped to Tula! Guys this place is so cool!! This is the place that has been speculated to be occupied by the Jaredites. All of the pyramids and buildings were used for sacred ceremonies and rituals. And the statues seem to be wearing ancient temple clothing. Tula was so dope. It was one of the biggest cities and civilazations in ancient Mexico, and it was so so beautiful. Next up I need to go to Teotihuacan, which could very well be where Christ visited the Americas. I love literally living in the Book of Mormon. 

This week I want to share a thought about how soon we, as humans, forget about the spiritual moments in our lives, and how we forget about when we{ve seen the hand of God. Alma 9:8-9 says "how have ye forgotten the tradition of your fathers? yea, how soon ye have forgotten the commandments of God. Do ye not remember that our father, Lehi, was brought out of Jerusalem by the hand of God? Do ye not remember that they were all led by him through the wilderness?". Guys this is why it is so important to read the scriptures, pray, and live the gospel every day. We forget so soon about how great God has been to us. I want to ask you questions just as Alma did. Do you not remember that you have the opportunity to live because God gave it to you? Do you not remember that God has supplied you with strength during your hard times? Do you not remember that Jesus Christ atoned for our sins, and that through him, we can repent and live forever? Family and friends, please think often in the times that you've seen the hand of God. Maybe keep a journal of how you've seen blessings from God in your life. Find a way to learn from this example in the scriptures and remember your savior and your God in every moment. They are everything. And all they ask us to do is keep the commandments and live the gospel. If we can do that, we will be blessed forever. This life is the time to prove to our creator that we love him, and we will obey him.

Les amo a todos de ustedes! Siempre recuerden y sigan su redentor y padre celestial!

Elder Millard