Conference and Lulu Baptism!

Que honda familia y amigos??

Que linda semana! Pretty good week here in Pachuca! The weather cant seem to make up its mind. We{ve had some pretty hot and then some pretty cold days. Definitely dont think there are seasons here haha. This week I filled up about four trash cans with tissues, and there were a few days I could barely talk from a sore throat but nobody wants to hear about that so here are some highlights from the week haha.

First off, the conference with the General Authorities! So... it was definitely disappointing because Elder Cook didnt end up being able to come. Quite the bummer haha. But we still had Elder Clayton and Pino come! Elder Clayton is the president of the 7 quorums within the Quorum of the Seventy. So he{s definitely in a pretty high position. He had some great words of widsom and advice for the mission. I absolutely loved the conference! It talked a lot about developing your own testimony and being able to leave the mission field with that unbreakable witness. The musical number I did with the three other elders went super well! Ill definitely be saving that arrangement of Joseph Smiths First Prayer for future occasions haha. I also had the opportunity to play piano for the conference! I played prelude while everyone came up front to introduce themselves to Elder Clayton and Pino. After the met everyone they came up to the stand and taled to me a little bit. President Clayton{s wife told me to tell my mom thanks for making me practice piano hahaha. That ones for you mom. Your famous now. Haha I also played the hymns throughout the program. Everything went great except for how Elder Clayton changed two of the hymns on the spot. I could play one of them just fine but the other was Firm as the Mountains Around Us which I had never played in my entire life haha. So I sight read it in front of General Authorities and everyone. It wasnt terrible but it definitely wasnt the best either. But shoutout to Connie Bauer for teaching your boi how to play piano haha.

On friday morning, a district leader on our zone called us and read the statement from Elder Uchdorf about the communication between families and missionaries!! HOLY CRAP I was so excited, didnt believe it at first but  now Im just super stoked. Itll be awesome to have more communication and support from the fam! Elder Uchdorf promised blessings for the actual missionary work too which is super cool.

This Saturday we had a baptism for the hermana Lulu! This woman is soooo funny. She came to church on her own out of curiosity and we found her and started teaching her! She had super interesting beliefs about talking to archangels and la virgincita Guadalupe (the Virgin Maria) which 99% of the people here pray to and adore. She just always messes around with us and asks us to start dating her daughter. She told everyone how we tricked her about the baptismal font water being hot hahha because the gas actually ran out in the chapel that day. She wasnt too happy. Haha but shes a funny gal, and we{re glad she was able to enter into the waters of baptism and get closer to God! She loves the church, lessons, classes of self sufficiency, and the monthly stake temple trips to CDM (Mexico City!) 

We are already to week six of the cycle which means there are changes next week. I cant wait to see what happens. Ive been here in Pachuca two cycles which basically means 50/50 me staying or me leaving. We'll see what happens, but we{ll finish the cycle strong here in Pachuca no matter what!

3rd Nephi 12;24 says "Go thy way unto thy brother, and first be reconciled to thy brother, and then come unto me with full purpose of heart, and I will receive you.". I really like this verse because honestly sometimes our relationships with our fellow human beings keep us from getting closer to God. One of the best ways we can develop our relationship with God is to love other people! As we apply the gospel to our relationships with others, we will come to know the relationship God has with us.

Que pasen una buena semana!

Elder Millard

Karen Baptism!

Bueno Bueno Bueno!!!

Really good week here in the place where there are speedbumps instead of speed limits! A week full of lots of work and a great baptism!

On Wednesday after a district class, Elder Cassat and I had all of the district (and us) go to the area of some of the sisters that have been struggling a lot to find people. They have been super discouraged so we had everyone go to contact in their area for an hour and a half and then send all the references to the sisters when we all met back together. It went super well! We ended with 9 new investigators for the sisters so hopefully that will boost them up a little bit. It was cool to see the district work together to help some of their fellow sisters out.

Sunday was definitely the best part of the week! First of all, we had an investigator named Alma come to sacrament meeting. Alma is the coolest person, and has such a great faith in Christ! And this past sunday was fast sunday so during the testimonies, I invited Alma to come up with me to share her testimony, and she accepted! She went up and shared how grateful she was the God sent the Elders to her house to help her get closer to him. and many other things that were just so special to hear! It definitely made my day. All of the members afterwards were telling us that we have an investigator of gold hahaha. If she gets baptized, she could very well be my best convert.

After sacrament meeting, Elder Cassat and I finished the 5 hour preparation for the baptism! It also takes forever for the boiler to heat up the water haha. But we got everything ready and the baptism started (even though the baptismal candidates arrived thirty minutes late to their own baptism haha)! It was such a cool program stacked with people from the ward and friends of the sister! The people who were baptized were Karen and her two kids Andres and Camila! I sung a musical number with the family who gave us Karens reference. It was also Karens birthday so it was cool to realize the significance of being born on her birthday and reborn on her birthday 30+ years later!

In Acts it talks about persecution that the apostles went through while preaching the gospel after Christ died. In a specific chapter it talks about this persecution and how a couple of the Apostles were "Expelled" from the city and rejected by the people. But then it says something that I just love. "But they shook off the dust of their feet against them and came unto Iconium.. And the disciples were filled with joy, and with the holy ghost."

This is exactly the attitude I have strived to have in the mission! A few days ago, for example, we knock on a door and a guy answers yelling "ATHEISTS ATHEISTS ATHEISTS" and then slamming the door on us haha. But we just shook the dirt off and moved on to a different place! I love the example we can get from the Apostles in Jerusalem and the ones now adays too! Its the best thing we can do to be filled with joy and the holy ghost.

Hasta la proxima!!

Elder Millard

Interviews and Cantata!

BUENO BUENO BUENO famila y amigos!! Que tal??

Good week here in Pachuca! Work picking up a lot better, and we're starting to see the hard work pay off! We had interviews with President as a zone this week which went really well! As the zone leaders, we always have to stay for all of the interview which means we get to the stake center early to prepare everything, and then leave about 8-9 hours later after the last interview haha but it's fun to have time to talk to everyone and take a break from the normal mission work day.

This Sunday we had a super cool opportunity to go to a concert about the Atonement of Jesus Christ. Its the same family that did the concert for Christmas and they are sooooo talented. Im just gonna be straight up and say that 99% of the Latinos I meet have some difficulties singing on pitch. Haha we were all thinking it but I had to say it. I love these people with my whole heart but most cant sing to save their life haha. This is a lesson Ive learned since Spanish Immersion in elementary school doing those singing and dancing festivals haha. BUT this family is an exception and I was pleasantly surprised. We brought sime investigators to the concert and it was super good! Its good to have some quality music to relieve some stress. That's something Ive definitely missed haha.

It is incredible how rare marriage is here in Mexico! Who knows, it might be the same percentage of people getting married in Mexico as other parts of the world, but it just seems so much less common here! One of the heartbrakes we experience as missionary is when people accept a baptismal date and then later tell us that they arent married. Its called "Union Libre" when they just live together without being married and I swear thats everyone here. So that happened to us this week with two super cool investigators who accepted a date but then we found out that the woman hadnt been divorced with her previous partner and that he doesnt want to get divorced. So that just went down the drain. Haha we'll still teach and pray for them but that is definitely something you dont want to hear as a missionary.

Time is absolutely flying!! Im about a third of the way done with my mission, and its just unbelievable. Im super grateful for my time here and Im honestly glad Im still missing a lot of time before coming home. I have already learned a lot, and Im excited to keep on having experiences and progressing. Thanks everyone for your love and support!!

Elder Millard

P.S. the past two cycles, my comps have been pretty dang white haha. So when I have been meeting new people, they have almost always guessed that my comps are from the US and 

that Im from Brazil haha