Calling Old Investigators

Como estan mis hermanos!??

September is already here! That sure went by fast. I absolutely LOVE this season! College Football is among us. Well I guess its just among you guys but I still love hearing about it and seeing pics haha. Fall here in mexico is also super fun! Im gonna start hearing more mariachi, eating more posole which is super good, we have the 15th of september celebration coming up, etc! What a fun time to be in the mission.

This week was pretty good; we found some pretty good new investigators! One of my favortie parts of the week was when we were calling all of the old investigators in the phone. Of course most of them didnt answer, we don't even know who these people are but we needed to clear up space on the phone and before deleting the contacts, we wanted to give these people one last shot! So long story short, I got a hold of a lady named Luz Maria who answered the phone and said "I just finished the book of mormon and I would love for you guys to visit me"!! Of course we were super stoked about it! That same day, we went to go visit her and I think shes gonna start progressing well! She even went to church with us on sunday. 

The rest of the week was pretty normal, I had exchanges with a brazilian elder which was super fun! Portuguese is honestly so similar to spanish, it was fun to try and understand him speaking!

I just barely finished reading the book of Job. He is one of the most popular figures in the Old Testament because of his faithfulness! I love one part where he says, paraphrasing, "If we receive blessings from God, shouldnt we also receive the trials he gives us?" we should be grateful for everything that happens in life. Most of the time, the hardest times are the times we learn the most from!

Les amo un buen!!

Elder Millard

p.s. sorry I left the camera in the house, next week ill send the pics!

Temple and Zampoala!!

Como les ha ido a todos!??

Happy fathers day to all dads out there but especially to my very loving and wise dad! Im so grateful for his amazing example and advice! 

It was a great week here in Huauchinango! It all started off with the trip to the Mexico City Temple!! I love this place with my whole heart, definitely gonna be a place I take the family to. The session we did was so beautiful, its been almost a year since the last time I went! I love the whole grounds of the temple. A couple days after the trip with the mission, my comp and I went back with some investigators in our zone! We got a little combi that the stake presidency provided for free and went down to Mexico with 18 people! All the investigators loved it even though they couldnt go in haha. the visitors center is something else though, it has so much information and cool ways to learn about the church! Its cool how the temple trips work here in Mexico. Instead of being in Utah where theres always going to be a temple nearby, the wards here have to plan in advance to travel in a bus to the temple! When we went on Saturday, there were busses after busses coming in with wards from all over the place! From different states too! They make it a whole party with the food break and time to go to the stores too. I am definitely planning on going back to that place.

After the session at the temple, we all went to the stake center to the side of the temple to have our last zone conference with President Kimball!! It was a great conference, him and his wife will be very much misses. We will be welcoming President Maldonado from Saltillo Mexico on the 28th!

As soon as my comp and I arrived in Huauchi, we saw this humongous mountain in the distance. Its hard to miss because of how big it is. Its called Zampoala and it is one of the biggest peaks in the state, and today we were able to summit it with some members!! It was very very steep sometimes difficult haah but we made it to the top and it was absolutely gorgeous!! It was a little bit of a bummer because of how foggy it was but I think it made it look cooler seeing all the cliffs with fog. Its a beautiful place we live in! 

Everyone needs to find time to go to the temple! Its incredible the insight and instruccion that we get as we participate in these sacred ordinances!

Elder Millard

Pic 1: This is the first thing you see as you walk into the Mexico City Temple. It was come to be the favorite painting Ive ever seen from the church. There is so much history here in Mexico and I get to live right in the middle of it! Jesus Christ came to the ancestors of the people I get to teach!

Pics: Temple Trip, Zampoala!! we got to the very top of that baby

Navidad!!

Feliz Navidad familia y amigos!!

Lets get straight to it... Christmas!! On Monday, Housley and I had to go to the stake center to unlock it and prepare everything for the christmas party for the whole mission. It was the first time that the whole mission has been together for a year and a half. Usually we do two different meetings, each with half of the mission, but the other meeting was scheduled for this past Saturday and they had to cancel it because there were rioters setting the freeway and everything on fire because people were protesting to get higher salaries for teachers haha. So we had the whole mission together and it went super well! We had a really good devotional at the beginning and then we had a talent show where my comp and I did some dope dances that we had been practicing. One of the was to Santa Tell Me by Ariana Grande and the other was an island song that a Polly sister taught us all right before the conference. It went super well haha, President Kimball went up to the front to record it all haha. After, we ate tacos de Jabali which is wild boar and it was SOOO good holy crap. It was also a fortune to buy all of that food but we wont even get into that haha. It was fun to see and talk to everyone in all the mish and get to know the new kids too. To finish Christmas Eve off, Housley and I and a few other missionaries went to a members house for the Christmas Eve dinner which was also super fun.

Christmas Eve here is even more important than Christmas day. Its called NocheBuena and people always have humongous dinners with their fams. Its sad though because people celebrate the day of the Virgin Guadalupe more than they do Christmas here. Its the same case with the days the dedicated to celebrate the three wise men. I{m just sitting here thinking, who is the most important in this whole event__ But the people and the Catholic religion definitely have their traditions.

Christmas day went really well! President allowed us to sleep in a little bit so that was glorious haha, and then we went to a members house for the skype call! Everything went just fine until my incredible mom got in front of the screen for her personal time to talk to me and thats when I started to lose it a little bit gosh dangit. Haha but definitely was super fun to talk to the fam and hear their voices to them. Definitely super fun to talk to Maddi and Kenny in spanish too haha, that{ll be useful to have them after the mish to keep the spanish up.

After the video call, we went to the bishops house for the rest of the day to watch movies, play games and have some traditional food from England since thats where theyre from! It was super fun, what a great fam. There are still some times when I legit cant understand them because of their thick accent but it always makes for a good laugh when I find out what they were trying to say haha.

So overall, Christmas was definitely a success! It was a little disappointing seeing the lack of Christmas spirit here haha but that{s why we{re here to bring it up right_ But for real, what a special time of year to spread this special message of Jesus Christ and his church. Testifico que realmente la iglesia ha sido restaurada y que hay un plan de salvacion que Dios ha creado para nosotros. Si solamente seguimos fiel, heredaremos todas las bendiciones del senor como familia eternas. 

Feliz Navidad!!

Elder Millard

Real del Monte

Buenas Buenas tardes from one of the highest inhabited places in all of Mexico! It was cool to be able to get to know Real del Monte better this week! I hope all of you are doing well!

On Tuesday this week, we went with the bishop to real del monte to meet some less actives and get to know the area a little bit. This place is like a MAZE! Holy crap its gonna be so hard to navigate. A lot of streets dont have names and all of the are super crooked and lead to random paths and there are hardly any main streets! It has been interesting navigating throughout the place, especially with all of the crazy hills!

Honestly its been kind of a slow start. Since there hasnt been constant missionary work for a very long time, there are no investigators, converts, or anything. We've met a few people from part member families and so far those are our only investigators. Weve contacted quite a bit but wow this place is Catholic! Im used to going to other pueblos that are also very catholic but this place is even more extreme. While we were contacting, there was a woman low key following us and knocking the same doors we knocked but to organize their next march to worship the catholic saints and everything hahaha. Despite a lot of rejection, we have find a few people who we have appointments with this week. I hope they progress! I have faith that this week will be better and we'll find more people. Its going to be very complicated to figure out the sunday situation with the reunions canceled! The mission right now is figuring out how to act, and how to measure investigators progress instead of requiring the 3 sacrament meeting attendances. 

RIght now we're living with the other Elders in Loreto and we're still trying to find a house. Right now we're just living out of our luggage haha there's no space to hang up our clothes and unpack! I hope we'll find something soon. all of the options have been falling through.

My kid is doing well! He's doing great in the few lessons we've had, but he still doesn't feel used to contacting and the rejection haha but thats definitely normal. We just have to be patient that the Lord will provide us with people to teach! Its been a while that Ive been so desperate to find new investigators, but thats part of opening a brand new area!

This week I finished Helaman in the Book of Mormon and I really like the part where Nephi's preaching was rejected but that the Lord comforted him and he didnt even get home by the time he turned around to keep on preaching to the people. Those feelings of rejection were kind of what I was feeling, just a little less extreme obviously haha, but It gave me motivation to return to the pueblo to keep on preaching! Its never been an easy thing to do, thats why I know it'll take some time to see results!

Les amo a todos!

Elder Millard

Pics: Ill miss working with them! Welcome Elder Cordeiro to the offices!

(we ended up moving to Atotonilco, a pueblo a little further away from Real del Monte to start working. Everything was going great until the virus shut everything down.)

The Last Chapter

Bueno Bueno Bueno familia y amigos!!

March is upon us! I love the springtime! Even though spring isnt even noticeable here, I enjoy the pictures Im sent! We've had a few colder days recently, but most days its pretty hot. This week flewww by! Here are the highlights.

We started the week with another zone activity at Presidents house. This time, Pachuca Sur came! We played a lot of volleyball, and ultimate frisbee and football. Good times! I definitely enjoyed it more than the yoga from last time... Im the least flexible person on the planet haha. 

The rest of the week was completely focused on the transfers. We were able to do divisions with the Elders in our area a little more which went really well! But all the rest of our time was with the cambios. Almost every day, we sat down with President for hours talking and thinking about every companionship. It was very interesting to talk about my own changes as well. I'll write about them in a second.

First off, I just wanted to write about these past three cycles. These four and a half months have been incredible. Working with President and Hermana Maldonado is something I will never forget. They are so incredible, and they really put in their all to help the mission! President has done a lot to change the perspective of the mission for many missionaries. The disobedience has gone a lot down despite some special cases that were really hard to witness. The missionaries are working more for their love for the savior than for other previous motivations. There is a lot of potential for our mission! Results are already going a lot higher and March and future months are looking good for Mision Mexico Pachuca. In my time working as assistant, I have seen missionaries at their lowest, Ive seen them at their best, Ive been exposed to many things that happen in the mission, Ive gotten to know all of the missionaries. Ive never been so sick up worrying about renting new houses and buying all of the furniture and house items haha, Ive learned how to work with dozens of things on my mind at a time, Ive learned a lot more patience, Ive learned a lot of things I personally want to change, Ive been close to nocturnal for many days haha, Ive seen Gods servants lead his church and its been unforgettable. Im so grateful to have been a part of it. Even though there is still a lot of room to improve as a mission, I know I put in my all and I know we are on a good path. And now..... I'm back to the MISSION FIELD!

so. drumroll...... for the last 3 months of the mission I will be opening a new area called REAL DEL MONTE and I will be TRAINING! I am honestly sooooo excited. Let me explain what happened.

I had it in my mind, as I expressed last email, that I was going to go to a place called Tepatepec and train there. But early in the week, the bishop from the "Loreto" ward came to the offices with the Elders in Loreto to have a meeting with President. President invited us into the meeting with them. So the Loreto ward covers a section of hilly Pachuca right by the Clock monument. Even though most of the work is there in Pachuca, the ward limits technically go hundreds of miles north as well. It covers all of the pueblos in the mountains all the way up to the state of Veracruz. One of those pueblos in the mountains is called Real del Monte or Mineral del Monte. this place is like a 20 minute ride from Pachuca in transport and it is a HUGE tourist area. Every weekend, hundreds if not thousands go. Some if not most Mexican citizens that live further away from Pachuca, in fact, have never even heard about Pachuca but almost all have heard about Real del Monte. 

Real del Monte is a huge mining village. Like most the rest of Pachuca, the English people lived and mined there. They have parts of Real del Monte that people cant build a house unless it has english architecture, to preserve the feel and look of the city. The English cemetary has all of the grave stones pointing towards England which is pretty cool. It is one of Mexico's "pueblo Magico"s which just means its one of its strongest tourist cities. One of my last areas, huauchingango, was also a pueblo magico. Also, rumor has it that the first soccer game in all Latin America was played in Real del Monte by the English! and... its the exact home of the famous Paste! Basically, it is a very touristy place with plenty of people. Ive been a couple times passing by and it looks beautiful! Especially in comparison with Pachuca's dryness haha. Its 9000 ft elevation. 

There was a branch in Real del Monte about six years ago but members stopped going, and ever since then all the few active members went all the way down to Pachuca to attend the ward in Loreto. Ever since then there havent been missionaries working there! Six years without missionaries! This is why the bishop had the meeting with president. He wants to start working with the less active and part member families there. he has a lot of plans to help them. I'll be able to help him with all of that and hopefully I'll be able to find a lot of new people as well! Itll be a challenge, because all of them are going to have to travel significantly to get to church. and from what Ive heard, like 99% of the people earn most if not all of their income, selling to tourists on saturdays and sundays. Its gonna be an experiment to see if the people will be receptive and will be willing to sacrifice a little. I have faith that the spirit will guide us to people who are prepared!

The bishop convinced president to send two missionaries to work there. While the bishop was talking, I felt impressed to offer myself to go there. Since president let me pick my last area, I asked him what he thought about me going there and he really liked the idea! Since president doesnt think missionaries will have much work of there on the weekends, we will be living in Pachuca and taking a combi four days a week every morning to work in Real! and then returning back to pachuca every night. Good thing the combi ride is pretty! A lot of this is an experiment, but Im so excited to get to work and find new people! 

Since I will not be going to Tepa, I will not be a zone leader anymore. President wanted me to be the district leader there, but I convinced him to make a different Elder district leader, who I think will thrive with the new responsibility, and Ill be able to teach him his duties and help him figure it out! The decision was thanks to a thought my mom sent me throughout the week. I received the message right before we talked about the situation. God works in mysterious ways!

Im excited because for the first time in almost two years, Ill be able to focus on my area and my kid (the missionary im training) 100%

The new missionary that I will be training is named Elder Pardo! He is from Mexico City and he's a convert of one year!! From what hermana Maldonado read in his information from the papers, he seems really responsible, and hard working! I really hope so! Im excited to get to know him on Monday. 

After teaching only a few times in the past few months, Im so excited to go back to the people!! I know the Lord will guide my companion and I to get the work we need to get done in Real del Monte!!

Les amo!

Elder Millard

Pic 1: what the mission board looks like ft. my new zone.

Pic 2: The pachuca part of the loreto ward

Pic 3-4: a taste of Real del Monte!

Pic 5: The older sister of the boys in the pic I sent last week. She made us her facebook profile picture! haha also my old comp in that pic, Elder Cordeiro is the new Assistant! Im so proud of him, I new he would be the next assistant for a while now, it was hard not to tell him!
Pics 6+: extras

Back in Puebla!

Como les va a todos!?

What happened to february???? If someone could explain where it went that would be much appreciated. Times flying!

This week was super fun! On Monday we had a zone activity with president with the Pachuca Centro zone which has 27 people in it right now. Far bigger than all the other zones. It went really well, and it was super fun to spend time with everyone! 

After the activity and after cleaning everything up, President, my comp, and I started talking about the upcoming transfers. We had the dreaded conversation of how I am going to finish my mission. He explained that he really wouldve just liked to keep us together, but how the Area presidency doesnt recommend anyone to finish their mission in the offices. He said he sends us back to the field for US. If he were selfish, he would just keep us working with him. But he sends us back so that we can end with the missionary spirit. Im honestly super excited to go back but it kind of hit me during that conversation how fast things are coming to an end. He flat out told me that he trusts me to pick my last transfer. The area and the companion. Obviously thats a lot of pressure!

The area recommends, and President does everything possible to not have any zone leaders train new missionaries, so that they can focus on their responsibilities. Thats why I havent trained a new missionary since I was called a zone leader almost a year and a half ago. So while talking with president, we decided that itd be better if I trained instead of ending as a zone leader. But with recent events, President is planning on dropping a couple of the zone Leaders. He commented to me that its a possibility that I could end my mission training as a zone leader to help with the mission needs! So it works out perfectly! There are only two zones I havent been too, and so it looks like Ill be going to a place called Tepatepec which is a little pueblo like an hour from Pachuca. Ive heard good things about and I think itd be the perfect place to finish with my kid! Ive been there a few times and its just a little cute pueblo with great food and a lot of people! A missionary's two favorite things haha. This coming week, we will be finalizing all the transfers, so nothing is 100% sure yet but either way Im just excited to finish the last two cycles back in the field.

This week we finished all the interviews with the mission. We traveled back to Huauchinango Puebla to do the 12 missionaries in that area that still needed interviews. It was super foggy there but SO BEAUTIFUL as always! Puebla is probably the prettiest state of mexico honestly. In the food, nature, and people aspect! The culture is so cool! Im glad I was able to go there for part of the mission. A few days later, we went up to my birthplace Mixquiahuala to do the Tezontepec interviews! 

Traveling for all of these interviews, means that my companion and I have a lot of free time to study while president interviews. This week Ive read about 400 pages of Saints! I would highly recommend it to everyone! I've learned a lot, and have almost been brought to tears reading the sacrifices and examples of the saints, many of which are my ancestors. 

"Let us cheerfully do all things that lie in our power, and then may we stand still, with the utmost assurance, to see the salvation of God, and for his arm to be revealed." I am just amazed of the faith of these people, and all that they went through. Learning about their struggles to establish Zion and the church makes me so much more grateful for the church now a days! We are so blessed. Let us all remember and thank the sacrifices of the ones who went before us to allow us the blessings we enjoy today!

Les amo muchísimo!

Elder Millard

Pic 1: One of my convert families in Tizayuca!! Familia Garcia Reyes!! I love them haha. This is why Im on the mission

Pics 2-3: Back in Puebla!! Huauchi ❤

Pic 4: Mixqui!

Pic 5: Package from the best family ever!

Pic 6: Hermana Maldonado sent this to us. She's from the North and really likes to make fun of the "Chilangos" everyone from Mexico City and its close surroundings (Pachuca) haha I love her.

Pic 7: A lot of time in Presidents car these past four months haha.