More Time Please!

Como les va familia y amiguitos!!?

It was a great week here in Tiza! Weve been sprinting all over our area for a bunch of lessons every day! God has blessed us with a lot of people who are progressing well. We ended the week super tired from getting home late every night but I wouldnt have it any other way! The best feeling is at the end of the day, feeling super satisfied with all the work. We need more than 24 hours in a day to get to everyone! Thats a good problem to have though. Today has definitely been a blessing to rest a little bit more and prepare for another week!

The Lord has placed us into the path of really great people who are so willing to learn about the gospel! Many of them were able to go to church yesterday. Im super excited to invite everyone to general conference this weekend though, its gonna be awesome!

The highlight of my week was a lesson we had last night. We were teaching the Islas family. The family consists of the dad, the mom, and three daughters. The dad's brother is a member and returned missionary who is also married with a member and they also have a few kids. It was like our third lesson, and we watched the restoration movie with them. After the movie, we focused on talking about the book of mormon because thats what interests the dad most. We talked about it and then invited the dad's brother to share his testimony of the book. He shared such a powerful testimony about how his conversion. His parents kicked him out and disowned him when he told them he got baptized. He also talked about when his first wife, who he is sealed with and everything, died in his own arms from her cancer. But through all the trials, the gospel is the only reason he got through it. Everyone was in tears, and the spirit was super strong. I think it was a great wake up call for the family to realize that the gospel is real, and they need to do their part to get their testimony. I love the mission!

Elder Millard

Pic 1: Since I didnt take other pics this week, heres a random pic in a gated community in our ward with our cone that shows we have permission to be visiting. 

Nuevo Compa!

Buenas tardes familia y amigos!!

Fall is offically here!! Ya'll better enjoy the beautiful Utah fall. I say Fall is my favorite season but then once winter comes, I say winters my favorite season.. and so forth haha. Thats the beauty of Utah though, there are actually four distinct seasons! Here thats definitely not the case haha.

Things a going great here in Tizayuca! We have so many great people in teaching. Of course most of them have very strong challenges like smoking or marriage but we honestly have high hopes for this new transfer!

Recently we got two of our investigators engaged! It was such a fun experience! He had everything ready and planned, and the three kids helped us out too. He put the ring inside of an avocado, her favorite fruit, and she loved it!! She said yes haha. One step closer to the baptism.

We had transfers this weekend and....... I have a new companion!! Im honestly super happy about it too! His name is Elder Cordeiro (lamb in portuegese) he's from Brazil!! He is honestly an amazing Elder. Ive never been in the same zone as him but Ive heard great things about him and with the 8 hours we have together so far, Im super excited! He's super humble, ready to work, and the most loving person! I know Im going to be able to work really well with him. He just got called as a zone leader so I will be teaching him the responsibilities. SO stoked! Elder Castro is headed to open up the area Mixquiahuala (my birthplace in the mish) with Elder Faussett who was my comp in the ccm.

I gave a talk this week in sacrament meeting which I think went well! I focused on what we need to do as members to help in missionary work. All of it starts with our own personal conversion. I love a quote from President Hunter that goes, paraphrasing, like this "the greatest indicator of one's personal conversion is their desire to share the gospel with others" I LOVE THAT: If we dont have a desire to share this knowledge with everyone, we really need to work on strengthening our testimonies. Everyone knows someone who isnt member, so share the message with them! Love you all!!

Elder Millard

pic 1: Elder Cordeiro and I in front of the beautiful black river of tizayuca.

pic 2: Elder Harris' death (he finished his mission)

pic 3: Meneces family engaged! the sign says (to say yes: smile, to say no: do a backflip) hahahaha

VIVA MEXICO!

Feliz 16 de septiembre a todos!! My whole life, I thought Mexico's independence was the 15th but apparently its the 16th, just that most people celebrate it on the 15th in the night.

This week was super good! On Thursday our zone had interviews with President Maldonado. It went great! He gave really good advice and thoughts. I think everyone left the interviews feeling a lot better than when entering.

On Friday we had the Noche Mexicana at the stake center for all the stake of Tizayuca! It was a super fun activity, every relief society of every ward prepared a traditional dance from different parts of Mexico. It definitely reminded me of Spanish Immersion at Cherry Hill Elementary haha. I love this culture so much!! We had some great tacos, tostadas, pozole, tamales, and other foods after the dances. Everyone was dressed up and the investigators really liked the activity!

It was a relatively harder week for our investigators. They had a lot of challenges and most werent able to come to church. We're still in process of getting them married but right now we're looking for more people who can progress faster. Changes are already next week so we'll see what happens! 

I've been reading Isaiah and Im just amazed about how much it talks about the restoration. There's a reason Christ said "great are the words of Isaiah". The prophesies are on point and his words are so beautifully organized. Its really interesting to see the differences between Isaiah and the passages of 2nd Nephi who have the words of Isaiah. There is a chapter of 2nd Nephi that has a phrase that includes the record in the Greek and Hebrew old testament which shows how the brass plates were more complete than the translations that have been done of the bible in these days. I hope we can all read and comprehend Isaiah's words to help us understand what has happened and what will happen in these last days!

Elder Millard

Pics 1,2: VIVA MEXICO!!!

3: The only cool part of tizayuca hahaha

Please Get Married

Que tal como estan??

It was a super fun week here in Tizayuca! Here are some highlights..

On Tuesday, we had exchanges. I was with Elder Dow who just barely got to the mission. We had a super successful day in our area! We had 5 really good lessons and some great contacts! The best part was when we visited Catalina who is a contact we found in Los Olmos which is a super poor colony above our house. Turns out that who family is like the owner of the whole colony, but she was super receptive to us!! Shes probably like 80 years old and she is just the nicest person. Honestly one of my favorite parts about Mexico are the old ladies that are just the funniest and nicest people on the planet. She received the restoration lesson very well, so I told Elder Dow to invite her to baptism. She said that she would love to! So we have it planned for the end of September. She came to church this sunday, nice and prepared and 30 minutes early. She found some good friends and had a great experience! It makes all the work worth it right there. We call her abuelita "grandma" and she calls us her nietos "grandkids". 

On Thursday, we had a zone conference with half of the mission because Elder Pino from the seventy came! It was a super good conference. On Friday, we had the leadership council also with Elder Pino. We were able to talk about a lot of different things to help the mission go forward and it looks like we're on the right path! 

The most frustrating thing in our area right now are all of the people who need to get married!!!! I never imagines this being such a big problem in my mission. Its been a challenge in all my mision but this area is the worst. We have 8+ people who want to get baptized, but they are living in "union libre" and need to get married. Sometimes they have to get divorced to previuos marriages to be able to get married to the current parter. It is a very long process and it definitely breaks my heart every time we find great new people and then they tell us they arent married. In the zone, we have 25+ people who are in the same situation. Its unbelievable. There is a member whos a lawyer and he helps us a little bit but its just such a long process and it doesnt help that most of these people have no savings, they just live check by check.

Yesterday, we were planning on getting two of our investigators engaged. Ricardo already has already bought the ring and everything was planned. But saturday night, their kid broke his arm which made them stay in the hospital for the weekend. Thats three sundays that weve tried to have the appointment but something has happened every week. Hopefully this week we'll be able to do it.

Everything is good though, we know that people will start progressing and there will be a bright future! 

I was reading in Psalms this week and I found a phrase that is also repeated a few times in Proverbs. It says "Fear of God is the beginning of Wisdom" which is so true!!! You can be the smartest person in the world, but if you dont understand God and the commandments, you really arent wise. The feat of God really is just respect, and understanding the importance of this life and the role of God and Jesus Christ.

Les amo a todos ustedes!

Elder Millard

Pic 1: District Activity at Zumpango Lake!

Pic 2: Selfie in the combi on the way back from the activity!