Dia de los Muertos!

Que tienen familia y amigos??

I hope everyone had a great Halloween! On the 31st, it barely occured to me that it was Halloween because here its all just Dia de los Muertos! In this area they actually trick or treat too but its on Nov 1st and all the kids sing "Queremos calaveritas" instead of "trick or treat". It means we want the skeletons haha. 

November 1st and 2nd were the Dias de los Muertos! Everywhere I went I saw orange flower petals in front of the houses. The flower pedals lead to the ofrenda, or little shrine for the people{s dead loved ones. It was actually super cool! We also passed the graveyard on the way to an appointment on Nov 2 and saw EVERYONE eating food by the graves of their dead. Most of the people, instead of dressing up in a costume of some sort, just decorate their faces with skulls and stuff. They basically just try to look the most dead as possible haha. But it was really cool to see all the ofrendas and be a part of the culture. The only down side is that a lot of appointments fell through and it was hard to get contacts because everyone was gone with their famliies for the holiday.

 

It was quite the rainy week here in Ojo. I swear there are two storm drains in all of Ojo de Agua because every time it rains, it floods everywhere. On Tuesday, there were literally ocean waves of water on the streets haha. I was also blessed to receive about three free showers from cars the didnt want to slow down by where we were biking. They crashed into huge puddles and then next thing I knew, there was a wave of water over my head haha. I{m just really looking forward to Mid November when the rain season is supposed to be over haha.

On thursay, I went to Pachuca with Elder Trewartha (the Elder whos dad helped create Fortnite haha) who is the other District Leader in this zone. We got a ride from my hero Hna Eli Guerrero and arrived about an hour earlier than when the meeting was supposed to start at president{s house. So we decided to walk to the big soccer stadium in Pachuca and contact on the way. The soccer stadium was soooo cool. There was a GIANT soccer ball and a huge colored mural on the ground. We were both so mad because I forgot my camera and his camera died so we couldnt even document this amazing place! But if you look up, Mexico Pachuca giant soccer ball and colored ground, Im sure itll so show up haha. I remember finding this place on google the night I got my mission call.

The meeting at president{s house went really well! It was for all the district leaders in the mission. I learned a lot about the specific responsibilities and things that we should focus on. And of course we got the bonus of some great food from Hermana Kimball. I feel right at home in the United States every time I go to Pres{ house haha.

Things are picking back up here in Ojo de Agua. We've found a lot of really cool new investigators and the future is looking bright for November for baptisms. As a mission, we have an initiative called Iron Man 212. Its to get 212 baptisms as a mission from October to December. President is really counting on this zone and area to be a big part of Iron Man.

I love the teaching of Alma in Mosiah 18:9 "Yea, and are willing to mourn with those that mourn, yea, and comfort those that stand in need of comfort, and to stand as witnesses of God at all times and in all things, and in all places that ye may be redeemed of God, and be numbered with those of the first resurrection, that ye may have eternal life." This past conference, the apostles and general authorities talked a lot about taking the name is Christ upon us. I think this scripture is a perfect description of how we can do that. Think of what Christ would do. Comfort people, serve people, and be a witness of Christ at all times. A couple verses later, the people exclaimed with joy to Alma and said "This is the desire of our hearts." I love that phrase. We should always keep straight the desires of our hearts. I testify to you guys that this is the desire of my heart. To be a witness of our savior Jesus Christ. What is the desire of your heart_

Con amor,

Elder Millard