Cristo Rey

Bueno Bueno Bueno familia y amigos!

Good week here in Pachuca! I hope all is well back in the promised land haha.

This week I did exchanges with the Elders in Sahagun! This is literally the place that Hernán Cortéz lived in hahaha. Its a cool area with volcanos, factories, and ancient cathedrals! It was fun to spend the day there with Elder Williams. Its good we did it this week because there were actually special changes from Tecamac being robbed from us and now Elder Williams isnt in our zone!

This week was full of super cool new investigators! A couple weeks ago, I contacted a man with his two little boys on combi! There were finally able to receive us after several times knocking on their house and calling. They let us in, we did the first lesson, and they acompanied us to church the next day! And now they have a baptismal date! It was a testimony to me to never stop trying with the people you really feel have potential to accept the gospel.

Sacrament meeting was great this week. We had plenty of investigators, and all of my converts from this area there! I was also able to give a talk which was only my second time in the mission! I think it went a lot better this time because my first talk was when I had a week in the mission field, I think my spanish has gotten a lot better haha.

Today for Pday, Elder Cassat and I hiked up to the Cristus statue from our house! It was a 45 minute steep hike haha. I remember seeing the statue the very first day arriving to the field, and now I finally got to go. You can see the statue from most parts of the section of Pachuca and its just so cool! At night time its lit up and you can still see it. Its huuuuuge too! Its only two meters smaller than the statue in Rio de Janiero Brazil! which means its 36 meters tall! We were able to go up to the platform on the statue but unfortunately we couldnt go all the way to the top of the statue. Sometimes people go up to the top and see through Christs eyes.

Another man arrived to the Cristo at the same time as us! He was from Brazil! He started talking to us in half Portuguese and half Spanish haha but we could understand him perfectly! We talked to him for a while and went to the platform of the statue with him! He said that he was one of the workers for the Brazil Olympics! It was quite the adventure but we're super glad we went.

I cant wait for general conference! Elder Cassat and I have been listening to recent talks to prepare a little bit better. I invite you all to also find a way to prepare spiritually for the conference! Its gonna be amazing!

Hasta luego!

Elder Millard

Teotihuacan Round 2!

Que honda familia y amigos!?

Twas a great week in Pachuca! My comp fought through some pretty tough sickness, but we were still able to get some work done! Things are looking really good for the end of this cycle!

First off, our mission got robbed! Maybe not in the way youre thinking though... we used to have 9 stakes in our mission, but this coming week they are gonna take away two of our stakes and put them into a different mission! It wouldnt be such bad news if they were two stakes that werent our best two stakes in the mission, but they were! They are taking away the two stakes of Tecamac which is where my second area (Ojo de Agua) is! This stake is the most baptizing, has the most people, has the most nice people haha, and its such a cool area! People coming from Tecamac are always disappointed when they see people arent the same in Pachuca and other parts haha. Of course there can be success in any area, but the people here are just a lot more closed off compared to Tecamac. This also means that we will no longer have the Pyramids of Teotihuacan in our mission! When Pres told the zones of Tecamac the news in their zone conference, they all started crying, including Pres. These stakes are so special to us and its hard to see them go. All 36 missionaries in those areas will be moving into new areas within the mission. Im just glad I already had the opportunity to be in Tecamac, many others have never gone and now will never be able to.

Speaking of losing the Pyramids from our mission, Elder Cassat and I decided to go one more time with our zone for the zone activity! So we went today (my second time going) and it was so amazing! This time we took a tour from a member of the church who has studied the ancient pyramids in Mexico's relationship with the Book of Mormon! He uses studied from professors at BYU and other people. Elder Bednar took this guy's tour so we know its a good one haha. He shared us so many amazing connections from this ancient place, and the Book of Mormon! I'll give you guys a little summary of what he was saying (nothing official doctrine of the church, but things that could very well have happened).

-There are engravings of snakes on some of the pyramids, The snake's name is Quetzalcoac who represents a man that visited these people. Quetzalcoac is represented as a good snake and he was praised by the people here. The tour guide explained to us how there is duality in every thing. Usually the devil is associated with a snake. But that means that there should also exist a good snake to defeat the bad one. Kind of like how Moses' rod turned into a snake that defeated the bad snakes. Many believe that this man who visited these people was Jesus Christ. There are many sings that could be what Mosiah 3:15 talks about.

-Archeologists have found bones of people underneath one of the pyramids that they linked back to the year about 270 A.D. These bones appeared to be human sacrifices. Which could very well be part of the apostasy that happened "four generations" after Christ had appeared in the Americas. Four generations could be about 270 years.

-Lehi's name in Nawak (an indigenous language in Mexico) talks about the kind of crocodile that carries seeds of its children in its mouth while it travels to a land with more "abundance". Kind of like Lehi traveled to the Amerca's which is the promised land, and left his seed to inherit and inhabit all the continent.

-There is a restricted part of underneath the pyramids (that President Kimball managed to get access to a while ago) that has places that looks like fonts. There is a system of water that goes through this part that people anciently did a ritual to wash and annoint their entire bodies. This could very well be a literal "washing and annointing" that people did. In the temple now adays, it is explained that the ritual was done literally in ancient times.

-There were statues find in these ruins of people doing things with their bodies and wearing things that clearly represent parts of the temple ordinances.

-México (with the translation of Nawak and Hebew) converts to land of the Messiah.

-The people who lived here believed that their ancestors arrived from a foreign land on huge sea turtles. Sea turtles that traveled in the depths of a sea like "dishes" and came up every once in a while for air. The tour guide told us that these sea turtles could very well be an interpretation of the barges of the Jaredites. They were tight as dishes and came up for air every once in a while just as the sea turtles do.

-It was explained to us how people used to go to the top of these pyramids to do sacred ordinances and be united as husbands and wives. Their clothes were literally linked together and the tour guide explained that people very well could have been sealed together at the top of the biggest pyramid. For it couldve been their temple.

-There is a place where there is a main pyramid in the middle with twelve pyramids that surround it. In the middle section, you can speak normally and be heard hundreds of feet away because of the acoustics of this place. It is reasonable that those twelve surrounding pyramids were for the 12 apostles. The middle pyramids couldve been used by King Benjamin in his final speech to the people. In fact, when Elder Bednar stood upon that middle pyramid, he only said one word. "Benjamin". And people hundreds of feet away could hear him say it.

-There is another section where water used to accumulate, and it was used to act out different scenes. Many believe this area was a place to act out the creation to the people. Accompanied by gorgeous paintings that were also instructive.

-Last but not least. Teotihuacan has three major section. The first and greatest is the pyramid of the Sun in the middle. The second section is the pyramid of the moon which is second biggest. The third section is where there are many smaller pyramids that represent the stars. Does this sound like the kingdoms of glory to anyone else? Go check out 1 Corinthians 15:41 and let me know.

So basically my mind was blown when we went today. Such a cool experience! We will find out if this place really was inhabited by Book of Mormon people when the second coming happens and Christ renews all of his temple, even the ancient ones.

Que tenga una buena semana!

Elder Millard

P.S. there are more pics of Teo in the last email I sent a few months ago also titled "Teotihuacan!"

A Nigerian Prophet

Como estan familia y amigos!!??

It was a great week here in Pachuca! Time is flying, and we{re already on week three of the cycle! That means Im probably leaving this area in four weeks... gotta make the best of it! We have some good baptismal prospects for the end of the cycle.

The first highlight of the week was getting to translate again for Lions Club Glasses Project! This time there were newsreporters and everything there. They filmed me translating for one of the patients so who knows, maybe Im famous right now on Mexican TV haha. Haha no but it was cool to meet people from the Hidalgo Government who came.

On Thursday, Elder Cassat and I were contacting and we knocked a house of a Nigerian man! We of course had to know what he was doing in Mexico! He let us in and we started talking to him, and getting to know him. He spoke English with the coolest accent and lowest voice ever haha. He was saying how surprised he was that nobody knows English here if Mexico is so close to the States, when places like the Phillipines and Nigeria speak it just fine. He told us that right now he{s living in the Phillipines and that he{s trying to grow his church here in Mexico! He{s literally the prophet of his own church. He said he was called of God in the mountains to start this church. The church is called The Last Salvation of Christ Celestial Church Inc.... hahaha my favorite part is the Incorporated. Their church is all about spreading the news of Christ. We presented him the Book of Mormon and he absolutely loved it and said he{d start preaching it in his congregations! We were just like "Well go right ahead!". Maybe in a few years we{ll hear about missionaries converting an entire church in the Phillipines. This guy was soooo nice to us and we wanted to keep on teaching him, but he had to move back to the Phillipines. He said the closing prayer both times we visited him and it was so cool to hear his way of praying. He talked about how we are all brothers praying to our everlasting father. You could feel a lot of unity despite our religious differences. He said he would let the missionaries in the Phillipines teach part of his sunday meetings so I hope the reference goes through because that would be incredible! What a cool guy, Prophet Adekoyejo Lawal is his name, we{ll miss him a lot.

Contacting on Prophet Lawal{s same street a couple days later, we heard somebody playing the flute so we went to their house and knocked on the door. The guy opened the window of his bedroom upstairs and asked us in English if we{re from Finland or Scotland haha. We introduced ourselves and he said he doesnt want to hear our message. But just when he was about to close the window on us, I asked if he could play his flute for us. He immediately went for his flute and started playing for us. We just started bursting out laughing (but covering so he wouldnt hear) because he was so good at playing but we couldnt even see him! He played for literally 5 minutes and in between songs he would share some intense poetry in English that went along with the songs. All while we were just chilling out of sight outside his house. We couldve left and he wouldve just kept on [performing[ for us for a hot minute hahah. He finally stopped and came down to meet us. Long story short, he doesnt want to listen to us, but it definitely brightened up the night for us! I love contacting and meeting new, and at times very interesting, people.

We had a great Sacrament Meeting on Sunday with a good handful of investigators who all loved the service! I loved seeing all their happy faces and seeing them meet the members and create new friendships. God has blessed us to teach some great people.

Another highlight is that Alma said she would prepare herself to be baptized on the 7th of April right after conference!! Its not 100% certain but its her goal! She{s the one her shared her testimony in Fast and Testimony meeting. She has so much faith and will be such an incredible convert.

I never fully appreciated the story of the Brother of Jared. All of Ether is just so incredible. Especially considering how the book starts even before the Old Testament prophet Abraham was born! I love chapter 3 when the Lord who shows himself to the Brother of Jared because of his faith. But I think there are incredible analogies we can make in our life from Chapter 6. I encourage you all to read it. It talks about how the Jaredites made it to the promised land. In verse four it says that they set forth into the sea [commending themselves unto the Lord their God[. and verse eight says "And it came to pass that the wind did never cease to blow towards the promised land". Cant we see the great lesson from this story_ If we commend ourselves to the Lord as they did, then we will always be led to the Promised land. Sometimes the "wind" will be trials and difficulties. Sometimes the "wind" will be triumphs and testimony builders. But the wind will always lead to the promised land. So trust in the Lord, and put your whole life into his hands! He will lead us home.

Que tenga una buena semana!!

Elder Millard 

First Time Seeing!!

Que honda familia y amigos!!? Espero que todo haya salido muy bien para todos ustedes

Hows everyone doing?? Im assuming spring is starting to spring, and the warm is on its way! I basically forgot seasons existed because generally things are always the same here haha. 

This week was pretty good! We're finding some good people and investigators are progressing well! There was an old lady that we contacted in a pretty poor area who immediately accepted us into her house and during the first lesson, she accepted a baptisimal date! It gave me motivation knowing that there are people like her that are literally already ready to accept the gospel, they're just waiting!

We also had a leadership meeting this past week. Every first week of the cycle (6 weeks) we have a meeting as all the zone leaders and sister training leaders at presidents house which is SUPER nice, and Hermana Kimball always makes really good food the makes me miss Mama Millards food a little bit haha. But it was a very productive meeting and we were able to figure out a lot as the leaders in the mission! Its nice to be able to put in input and make a change in the mission.

The best part of the week was helping with a project that an organization called Lions Club put on! About 50 members of this club from Indiana came down here to Pachuca to give out free glasses to about 5 thousand Mexicans in the area! They are all used glasses from the states that peoplee desperately need here! These people from Indiana cant speak a lick of spanish so they asked Pres Kimball to have some of us go and translate for them. Elder Cassat and I went and helped for about 6 hours today and it was AMAZING! I got to meet these humble, and poor people who have always needed glasses but couldnt ever afford them. I saw some put glasses on for the first time and then crying with joy. There was a 94 year old lady who started jumping and dancing with joy haha. It was such a cool experience translating for them. I also got to know a couple of the club members super well. Good ole Steve and Autumn. They are also from Indiana but right now they live in Nicaragua doing humanitarian work. They are some of the coolest people! I talked about so many things with them while we waited for more patients. We talked all the way from the gospel to Donald Trump hah. They were super fun to talk to and it was interesting to talk to another non-missionary american after 8 months haha. Steve has the biggest swearing problem and it was so funny hearing his comments while trying to translate for him haha. Good times. We might get to go back on Thursday to help them out again. But it was definitely one of my favorite experiences in the mission so far.

While we were in this part of pachuca (Pachuquilla) we took advantage to look around a little bit. We found a chapel that was built in the 1500's!

I absolutely love reading 1st Corinthians 15. Reading about the three kingdoms of glory, the resurrection, and baptisms for the dead. Its so cool to show investigators things like this in the bible to prove that we are literally the same church that existed primitively. Lets enjoy the blessings of being members of this very church!

Elder Millard

Pachuca round 3!

Que tal todos!?

Pretty good week in Ptown! Time is flying by, its already been 8 months in the mish! Here are the highlights from the week.

On Tuesday, Elder Cassat and I had plans to go contact for a few hours in a little colony named Felipe Angeles to get some new investigators. After our first contact, we got a call from an Elder saying that his comp had been throwing up blood all night and that they{re in the hospital. We went over to see how he was and ended up staying there for about 10 hours because his comp had to go to their house )which is pretty far away= to grab clothes and toiletries to be able to stay three days in the hospital. It was quite the scare at first but the Elder got better quick and they said it was just an ulcer in his stomach. But while we were there, I took advantage to get my wrist checked again because its still pretty bad from my bike accident in ojo de agua. They pute back in a brace for 3 weeks with physical therapy following. Hopefully that will fix it right up haha. Quite the day just chilling in the hospital though. The elder is 6'8" so his legs were hanging off all the hospital beds haha. 

Our converts in this area are progressing really well. I love seeing them bless the sacrament, get their temple recommends, etc. Our investigators are doing great as well! 

Yesterday we found out about the changes and..... Im staying in Pachuca with Elder Cassatt! Im super excited! Its a great area with some good people progressing, and with a great comp! We{re just gonna get to work finding some cool new people so that we can have more progressing this cycle.

Romans 8 is full of gems but one I havent already shared, that I love, is verse 6. [For to be carnally minded is deathñ but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.[. I love using this scripture when talking about the Law of Chastity with investigators. It goes along really well with the [Putting of the natural man[ that Mosiah talks about. Its so true though. If we get caught in the natural man, we wont be happy, but if we get lost in the gospel and always remember Christ, we will always have true joy. 

Pachuca round three here we go!

Elder Millard