Elder Soares!!

Buenas tardes amigos y familia!!

November is flying! we're already half way done! If I remember right, the beautiful fall features are kind of ugly now and everyones just waiting for the snow to make the mountains and everything look prettier haha. 

This week was super memorable!! It was super memorable but at the same time my mind is so filled which just makes everything a blur.

On Monday and Tuesday, we were completely focused on getting everything ready for the conference with Elder Soares that was on Wednesday! We accompanied president on the tour throughout the chapel to make sure everything was in place. The people in charge asked president to pick one Elder and one Sister to be translators just in case. President put me as the Elder which was super nervewracking.... good news is Elder Pingree and Elder Soares speak great Spanish so I wasnt needed. Hermana Vergelli got to translate for the Hermana Pingree though!

On Tuesday night, we went to president's house to help prepare all the sack lunches for all the missionaries, and talk about final details. Then we had dinner with President and Hermana Maldonado, their daughter who just got back from the mission, and 10 year old Jania! It has been so amazing to have more contact with them. I admire President so much. He has the funniest sense of humor, he's super spiritual, serious when he needs to be, motivating, loving, and humble! Its such a blessing to work with him. Its so different to have more of a casual relationship with him now, eating several meals together, going with him everywhere. I love it!!

Wednesday morning was like Armaggedeon trying to get everyone organized (especially with a very fragile voice since I was still pretty sick) but everything turned out great! We took the picture with Elder Soares and the little group he came with and then we all went to the sacrament hall to shake his hand! I got there a little early to play the prelude for when he shook everyones hands. He talked to me, shook my hand, asked where I was from, asked if I had family in Paraguay haha because he met some Millards there. It was so awesome to have such close contact with him! I got to play the hymns for the meeting and I also got to play the piano and sing I stand all amazed with a quartet of missionaries! It went super good! I snuck in the first verse in English, then the following verses were in Spanish and Tongan! It was a great, simple, and last minute arrangement that I came up with. The general authorities expressed that they really enjoyed it!! 

Elder Soares shared some awesome thoughts but the one that got to me most was when he focused on the scripture "¶ ^aThen said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him ^bdeny himself, and take up his ^ccross, and ^dfollow ^eme.

25 For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will ^alose his life for my sake shall ^bfind it.

26 For what is a man ^aprofited, if he shall ^bgain the whole ^cworld, and ^dlose his own ^esoul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?

he focused on a lot of different thoughts about forgetting ourselves on the mission. Staying focused on whats most important and taking upon "his cross". He spoke about strengthening our faith, and taking advantage of every moment. Definitely a visit Ill never forget! 

Love you all!

Elder Millard

p.s. theres no place in this computer to insert the sd card so ill send some pics later 

New Adventure

Buenas Tardes familia y amigos!!

Its taking a little bit to get used to the new rhythm of the mission. Im loving everything so far though! A lot more contact with President and all the missionaries! Right now, everything is 100% focused on the visit from Elder Soares next week! So we've been working mostly on that. After the visit, we'll be able to move on the planning this whole transfer out with the conferences, leadership councils, etc. This weeks we've deep cleaned to the max the house. It was an absolute disaster when we got there, probably because there have been so many elders in that house and nobody wants to start cleaning the piles of everything. All the Elders that go home, stay in the assistants house the night before. Those Elders usually leave behind a lot of clothes that they dont need anymore. So naturally the house was a pig sty! Little by little, we're getting it organized, the secretaries also just moved to a different house so itll be easier to keep it clean with just us two.

Its hard to say a lot more, because this week we've kind of just been getting used to the system and doing little tasks that President gave us. Next week, Ill have a lot more news! Im super excited for the future!

This week I basically fell to my death bed. As I am writing this, I am blowing my nose every 5 minutes and my throat is very very sore. Thats been the only downer of the week. Ive gotten a little sick throughout the mission but this one is probably the worst so far. And its terrible because I was also put in charge of a musical number for Elder Soares this coming wednesday so Ill hope ill get better by then so I can actually sing!!

This week, we barely had any time to study which was disappointing. Hopefully that wont be a regular occasion. Make sure to take the 10 minutes (at least) every day to search the scriptures! 

Les amo muchísimo!

Pic 1: Elder Conover and I in our new second home.

Pic 2: Mayte, Eduardo, their parents, and little irvine! I love them so much

Pic 3: Brenda, Gisselle, and Heriberto! That was a hard goodbye.

Pic 1: One of my favorite families in Tizayuca! Most are converts of my dad Elder Howell, the others will hopefully be baptized soon!

Pic 2: Eduardo and Mayte´s baptism with some ward support that came with us clear to zumpango!

Pic 3: One of the many ofrendas for dia de los muertos!

Pic 4: Goodbye to the best house/are in the mish!!

New Assignment

Buenas noches familia y amigos!

This week was absolutely insane!! I could write forever about everything but to spare everyone the time, heres the short version of all the highlights!

So this week was a great week for missionary work in tizayuca! it was fun to see everyone celebrating day of the dead here. Pachuca actually has the biggest altar in the world where they put the "ofrendas" for their dead ancestors. I couldnt see it because I was in Tizayuca but its a cool fun fact! 

This sunday we were able to baptize two people! We had to go to the chapel in zumpango since ours is in renovation. The two baptisms are two youth whos mom is a member and whos dad is also going to be baptized! The little girl Mayte is the one who talked to us on the street and asked us where the church was. We got to know them right after and since then we've been teaching them! Mayte and Eduardo progressed super well and their dad Eduardo is also super interested. We found a great family to get to know them and befriend them. Their kids have almost the same age and they get along great! Long story short, the dad was also going to be baptized on sunday but he couldnt get back from work on time because of the traffic from dia de muertos (day of the dead) so only the two kids got baptized but the hermano is close behind. Mayte bore her testimony on sunday and it was so tender! She testified how she knew the church is true and after finishing, she went running to her mom to hug her and they both cried. All the members sitting next to them cried too haha. Im super happy that they will be able to grow in the church as a complete family of 5!!

On sunday night, we received changes in the mission for the next transfer. I thought I was going to stay in Tizayuca but President actually called me to be an Assistant! My whole mission is about to change. For those who dont know much about the position, Ill basically be side by side with president and the other Assistant in all the aspects of the mission. Leading conferences, helping missionaries, and a lot more that I will be learning about. I will have a lot less time actually teaching and meeting the people in the mission field. My companion is also brand new to the job so we will be opening the area together and learning everything little by little! Up to this point, I am very very confused with everything there is to do, mostly because the two assistants that were here, were only able to teach us basic things super quick which didnt really help too much haha. But president assured that everything will be great and that we are going to be able to make a great change in the mission! He has some great plans and goals that he needs us to be the example of in order to help the rest of the 150 (more or less) missionaries in the mission! Im super excited to have more contact with President, I respect him so much and I know that I got called because I have things I need to learn, and things I will offer to try and help improve the mission!

Since we got the call so late last night, I had to say goodbye to everyone at last second! We went flying across all the area saying goodbye to the converts, investigadors, and members that have helped us a lot. It is SOOOO hard to say goodbye! The hardest is when the converts express they appreciation for you and everything you've done and then start to cry! It breaks my heart saying goodbye. Ill spare the details of the departure but Im definitely going to miss everyone in tizayuca!

I will also miss very much my amazing companion Elder Cordeiro! A very hard working, humble, kind, talented, and incredible missionary! Today is actually his birthday! Also fun fact- this man can cry on command. Its so amazing, he has made me cry with laughter because of the use of that talent is certain situations haha. He was definitely one of my very best companions! We got along super well and we had so much fun working as hard as we could! We had some good success, and I know all of the converts and the work is in good hands.

This morning is when all of the real chaos started. I am now in charge of solving dozens of issues that I dont even really understand haha but patience is the key. I only have 12 hours on the job so far haha. We accompanied president to welcome all the new missionaries and take them to the famous clock of Pachuca Centro and take pictures! We also took them out to contact their first people! I loved getting to know them and motivating them to have a good start in the mission field! I love the energy that the new missionaries bring. Then we all went to the offices and chapel to give a presentation (that I also had to do on the spot haha) and show all the new missionaries to their trainers which is super fun to see! All of that process lasted a few hours. I have also translated for President for many different needs. He received some calls from Salt Lake that he needed me to translate and I also helped with the new American missionaries in their first interview! The future is unknown but thats what makes it exciting! Ill have more information for next week but for now I want to get some sleep since Im only running on three hours haha. I feel like im missing things that I need to share but throughout the week I'll organize my thoughts better. Right now Im just grateful for the new opportunity that I have to serve the Lord! I will do my best to magnify the calling.

Just so you all know, my new Preparation day will be Saturday if you want to send emails! 

I wasnt able to take my camara with me but next week ill send pics! Love you all!

Elder Millard