Real Missionary Work Begins!

It was a great morning today as we were able to talk to Jennifer on the phone while she waited and waited and waited at the Salt Lake Airport. She had to rise very early this morning since she left the MTC at 4:30.  Although it makes no sense to me, she flew to Denver for a layover before traveling on to Ventura, California.  Evidently, there was fog in Denver, so her flight from Salt Lake was delayed about an hour and a half.  Luckily her flight to California was also delayed because they were waiting for a crew member to arrive. Needless to say, she will probably drop into bed tonight.

Jennifer sounded very happy and excited to start her adventure as a real missionary.  She was amazed at how people in the airport were coming up and talking to them.  She says, "I feel like a real missionary now!" Now that she is out among the people and being able to talk with them she believes real opportunities will arise.  She is nervous about her Spanish, but I know that she will do a great job.

We will update her address as soon as we get it from her.  Thank you to all who have written, sent packages and prayed for her.  Your continued support is very much appreciated by her and us.

It's Here!!

So...you want to hear a funny story? Today at lunch everyone got their travel plans but me! I was freaking out! Actually, I was calmer than anyone else because I was so excited to hear where everyone else was going. Hermana Gardner is going to Seattle Washington! She started crying and I almost started crying with her! It was awesome! Hermana Alley is going with her! They fly out Tuesday morning. Elder Cline and Elder Kelley are going to the Spokane Washington Mission, Elder Brown is going to Raleigh North Carolina, and Hermana Redford is going to Salt Lake City South! I hope she is in our area and you can feed her or see her! She's not sure how she feels about it though.

Anyway, I was stoked for everyone else but kind of freaking out inside, worrying that maybe I had gotten my visa or that I wouldn't get my plans etc. We've had infield orientation all day which is a bunch of giant meetings with everyone else leaving next week and I couldn't focus very well. After the end of the last meeting though I saw Hermana Alley and she was waving me over and freaking out! MY REASSIGNMENT WAS HERE!

Ready...?

Drum roll please....

CALIFORNIA VENTURA MISSION!

AHHHH!!!!! I'm so excited! I leave Monday morning from the MTC at 4:30 and my flight heads out at 8:52. We arrive in Denver at 10:22 (random I know) and then fly out of Denver at 1:14 and arrive in Santa Barbara at 2:50.

Do you want me to try to call you at the SLC airport around 7:00 or whenever or wait for my layover in Denver?

I LOOOOVE you!

Write me and I might be able to check my email in the next hour two! Or tomorrow!

Also, we talked to a teacher who just got back from Buenos Aries West! Hermana Pullan!

Love,

Hermana Millet

Mouse Friends, Chocolate and Missionary Wok

Hola familia!

I love Wednesdays when I get to email you! It's one of my favorite hours of the week!

As you hopefully know by now, I will not know about my reassignment until tomorrow or Friday. I will email you at the soonest chance I get. Any guesses as to where it will be?! I'm excited for anywhere!

Our last few days are flying by. Tomorrow is our last class with Hermano Lunt. On Friday we have in-field training and on Saturday he has a wedding to go to (Lame right? What kind of wedding could be more important than us?). We're super sad about it. He and Hermano Hardy really are awesome and I'm going to miss all of their wisdom and pep talks and spirit. It's just so great to be able to see people in an environment like this where we are all focused on the spirit and we get to see the best of each other. Hermano Hardy said yesterday that he's maybe more casual with us than he maybe should be because we're so cool and Hermano Lunt said we are easy to teach (about as close to he'll get to telling us we're his favorites). So basically, they like us best lol. Hermano Hardy tried to get permission to play volleyball with us Friday night (it would have been perfect because with he and Hermano Lunt we would've had 12 people!) but they wouldn't let him. :( The teachers from the other district came to visit them at the temple though on Monday with their spouses and we're trying to get them to both bring a girlfriend to visit us lol. Yeah, we're pretty much like kindergarteners who get excited when we see our teachers outside of class, and when we get chocolate.

Here are some highlights from the week:

Friday:  We had companion exchanges. Hermana Alley and I got to spend the day together. Hermano Lunt thought it would be funny to put the worst Spanish speakers in the class together. He almost made us teach Cris as well (Hermano Lunt aka the hardest investigator in the world). Luckily, we convinced him to give us Jose (Hermano Hardy aka super sweet, spiritual investigator). Yes, I know, I should learn from the more difficult investigators and that is more realistic etc. etc. etc. I "went" to Hermana Alley's area and Hermana Redford went to my area. So basically, I was teaching Jose but it wasn't my Jose it was Hermana Alley's Jose. Haha, that probably doesn't make sense. At first I didn't take the whole exchange thing as seriously and I probably should have but by the end of the day I was really understanding how I can use opportunities like that to learn from someone else and find new things to take my back to my area and companionship.

That afternoon Hermano Lunt taught us about teaching investigators not lessons. I got a little discouraged about how to do it all. I'm supposed to use How to Begin Teaching: teach the lesson, but rely on the spirit, relate it back to the investigator, pause for inspiration ask inspired questions. It was all just so much and I began to doubt. Teaching about the gospel is a lot different than teaching kindergarten. I'm not just teaching I'm converting. I can't just give them knowledge I have to help them change their lives and become new people. I guess if I'm a good teacher I should do that for my kindergarten students as well. It is just a little intimidating when I think about my influence on their eternal salvation. I really just need to continue to learn to trust in the Lord; give him all my effort, work and planning and then when I get into the lesson, just trust that he will help me. It's scary to think that I HAVE to receive revelation in the lesson and if I am not ready it will not work but if I am doing what I am supposed to, I shouldn't fear.

On Friday I got a little discouraged again but the Hermanas cheered me up with all their happiness and silliness. And chocolate! We've taken to taking a little break before language study to go to the room and get some chocolate. It does wonders lol. Speaking of chocolate, Hermano Hardy gives all the elders a hug when he leaves but he only gives us Hermanas a handshake (obviously), so we found some chocolate hugs in our candy stash and gave him a chocolate hug when he shook our hands. It was great. :)

We've also taken to calling every day fat day or fiesta day. So we used to have Fat Friday when we would eat pizza. Then we came to Fiesta Friday which sometimes falls on Saturday or Thursday depending on when we get the best packages, where we just eat sugar that we get from wonderful families like you. We also have fat p-day since they have french toast for breakfast and last week they had pizza and ice cream for lunch. Don't worry, I'm still trying to eat mostly healthy, but as our time is winding down we're also celebrating the food that we know we won't get when we have to make it ourselves out in the field lol.

Friday we played some awesome volleyball outside. I also wrote a paragraph to Elder Hutching's brother in his letter since he's already planned our wedding. We're going to jump out of an airplane and hang-glide into the Hawaii temple sealing room. Pretty legit right? Haha Elder Hutchings and Frampton and their district left early this morning. We're definitely going to miss them. They were some of the nicest elders in our zone and such gentlemen. AH! Speaking of our zone! Guess what! We're getting dissolved. :( They're sending as many Spanish missionaries as they can down to Mexico and the rest are heading over to the west campus. We will not get any more districts so there are only three left and each week they'll just lose another one. A big part of our calling as Sister Training Leaders involves new districts so we won't get to experience that part of our calling, but we can make the most of what we do have. It's also sad to think of all of our traditions dying away, like eating in the cool kids' part of the cafeteria and singing "God Be with You" every Sunday night with the departing district. Luckily we were able to get to know all the awesome people we did though.

On Sunday we spent a solid hour watching Mormon messages and watching mormon.org videos. It was wonderful. We also looked each other up on mormon.org. It was great (and don't worry, it was totally spiritually uplifting as well.) I wouldn't mind it if I could look you up on mormon.org though either *hint* *hint*. :) None of us got called on to speak this last Sunday which means this upcoming Sunday I probably have a 1 in 4 chance (especially high since I'm a hermana). I'm going to have to make sure my talk is awesome. Our zone is also singing "Nearer, My God, to Thee" together. It took us a while to agree on a hymn but it will be great.

Yesterday we got to SKYPE with members for Teaching Resource Center! It was pretty fun. Some of our district got to talk with a native in Mexico. We talked with a man living in Texas. He was white (but he was born in Buenos Aires). It was pretty fun.

Oh! Wanna hear something awesome? Hermana Gardner and I made a friend! His name is Gus Gus and he likes to study with us. He's a mouse. One day we found him in the bush next to our bench by the tree of life and last night we're pretty sure we heard him say goodnight to us on our way back from saying goodnight to the Hermanas when we were the only ones left outside. He's pretty cute.

We are loving visiting the Hermanas every night and getting to know them. It's still an adventure every time trying to get into their building. Last week we borrowed a key from some hermanas outside the building but we had to return it. Since there are two doors you have to unlock with the key I had to hold one while Hermana Gardner returned the key and then when she came to the door I ran and opened that door and sprinted back to the other one before it closed on us. We died laughing about how secret agent like we were.

On Sunday we watched an awesome talk by Elder Bednar about the Character of Christ. He pointed out how even in Christ's last hours on earth, as he suffered unbearable pain, he was constantly thinking of others. That is a quality I would really like to develop on my mission and turn outwards toward others when times get hard instead of turning inward like the natural man would. Elder Bednar is all about putting off the natural man which is all about being selfish. He brought up the saying that we should be the greatest convert of our mission but he said that if that is our focus it won't happen because we become converted as we focus on others. It was pretty awesome. I just hope I can change from it and become better. I told Hermana Gardner all about Mom and how she is totally like that and is always thinking of others.

Our Tuesday night devotional last night was by an emeritus general authority, John K. Carmack. He spoke about being a missionary and read a letter about a missionary whose trainer used the last half hour of the day to keep working and all about what that taught that missionary and how he kept that habit up and the results that came of it. I want to make sure every minute of my day is focused on my purpose. He said, "It was never an option to break the mission rules". I LOVE that! It really shouldn't be an option and watching people break them here; sometimes I start to think I can too, but it's kind of like making the decision not to drink or do drugs before the decision comes up. I can decide right now that I will never break even the smallest rule like going to bed or waking up etc.

I mentioned last week that the elders get a little frustrating, but I've also noticed some awesome changes in them. Elder Pederson is right out of high school and has his own language (yeah I'm dead serious) that can kind of get annoying but he has really been studying diligently and really working hard and I respect him so much for his efforts to be a good missionary and his strong testimony. These elders really are an example to me and I can learn so much from them.

The language is coming along. I'm not quite as discouraged now. We're working on subjunctive right now which is a little tricky and with all the different conjugations it gets difficult to put into sentences. To make a correct sentence I have to think of the tense and the conjugation tree and by the time I figure it out I've forgotten what I wanted to say in the first place but I'm not so discouraged any more. I'm also I little glad that I might get to be eased into the language here in the states.

Well, my time is up.  On a spiritual note: The first half of Alma with the stories of Alma and the sons of Mosiah might be my favorite stories in the BOM!

I love you lots! Thank you for all the letters and pictures. You are the best. Hopefully you'll hear from me tomorrow! I'll get my new address out asap!

Love,

Hermana Millet

P.S. Bryon, Jen asked me to post this just for you!

Shout out to Conner Chandler

This is a special shout out to Connor Chandler from my kindergarten class. He sent me a picture that was adorable and made me really happy!  Thank you Conner!  Have a fun summer and keep reading and drawing. :)

I love being a Sister Missionary!

Ah! Mi familia! I love you so!

I have so much to tell you this week. I'm just going to write about random wonderful events throughout the week so sorry if it doesn't flow well at all. Here goes:

Hermana Gardner and Jennifer

Each week I want to tell you a little more about the Hermanas and how great they are. Hermana Gardner is my companion. She loves basketball, Mormon movies, Reno, and BYU-Idaho...she's a white gangsta and she kind of hates wearing a skirt every day. She also makes funny sounds effects and is hilarious. She is 19 and has wanted to be a missionary since she first saw the missionaries when she was a little girl. She has four sisters.

Hermana Alley and Hermana Redford

 Hermana Alley is 19 as well. She is from Holladay. She writes awesome letters and takes hilarious pictures. By the correspondence between her and her family we can tell they are just super fun and adventurous. They always send us great festive packages. She struggles a little more than the rest of us with Spanish but her faith is super strong. Tomorrow we are going on "exchanges" and she and I get to teach Jose together. I'm super excited. We're going to commit him to be baptized. Hermana Redford is 21. She is kind of a perfectionist like me. She is awesome at volleyball. She is super spiritual and is really good at being patient with the elders (something I am not). I love her! She and I get along really well. I hope that helps you get to know them a little better. They are all just so wonderful!

Last Friday we had the most amazing lesson of my life with Jose. I couldn't believe how wonderful it was! We taught him about Joseph Smith and the 1st vision. We really tried to listen to the spirit and to him and take our time. I didn't feel nervous at all. I am really learning to see Jose as a real person (I know that sounds super weird because it's just Hermano Hardy but I'm really getting invested in him and his story). After we read Joseph Smith's account of the first vision (we didn't have it memorized quite yet) we just paused and let him think. We sat there for a while, neither of us wanting to say anything, because the spirit was sooo strong, you could seriously cut it with a knife (I don't know if that's a real phrase, but I just made it one so qualquiera) We just let him think about it for a minute and then we talked about how he felt. He said something like, "My head is confused, but my heart knows it's true." AHHH!!! It was awesome! After class as he was shaking our hands goodbye (he hugs all the elders but us Hermana's have to shake hands haha) he told us what an awesome lesson it was. I was so excited for the field in that moment! Imagine what that will be like with a real investigator! We get to change their lives! I still have so much to learn, but even in the first few months when I still know hardly any English, if I communicate with the spirit I can testify of Christ.

That day with Hermano Hardy we went outside for part of our language lesson. We were being a little noisy and so he told us all to fold our arms and line up. I didn't think he was serious, but then everyone started to do it! It was hilarious! I couldn't stop laughing, neither could Hermano Hardy. Then Hermana Alley and I tried to figure out how to sing "Jesus Wants Me for a Sunbeam" in Spanish. We only got as far as, "Jesu quere mi por un solbeam A luz por El todas las dias..." It was great. I wish they sold small Spanish primary books but I can't find one here at the bookstore. :(

I think I tell you in every letter how awesome our maestros are. They really are great. They give us pep talks like every other day about raising the bar (especially now since we are the 2nd oldest district in our zone) and having no regrets. "Vale la Pena" is Hermano Hardy's new phrase. I am really going to miss their pep talks helping me to be better. I'll just have to give them to myself. Or ask them to send me one each week haha.

On Friday nights we always play volleyball on the sand courts. Es el mejor! When we got to the courts though they ran out of volleyballs and only had soccer balls left. We LOVE it so much, and we can't play soccer together with Elders and Sisters so we decided to go for it with a flat soccer ball. It was...interesting. It hurt like heck to try and set or receive a spike from a few of the elders but it was still way fun! I'm still kind of awful at it, especially serving, but it's sooo fun! Especially because our zone is the best!

Speaking of our zone, there is an Elder named Elder Hutchings who is super nice. He and his companion, Elder Frampton, are kind of our favorites because they are always super friendly and run to open doors for us etc. Apparently Elder Hutchings wants to set me up with his brother, aka have is brother write me because he thinks I'm "a beautiful girl" or some other super nice respectful phrase he said to Hermana Alley. He's being all shy about it though and doesn't want me to know about it but keeps talking to Hermana Alley about it. It's kind of funny. I wouldn't mind though because he's super nice and kind of cute (but 18). And I've got to keep my options open for when I get back right? Besides, I LOVE letters.

Friday night we also had our last girl's night with the Hermanas from District C. I love them SOOO much! They are so incredibly sweet and kind and positive and such great examples to me. I miss them already! We sat around and talked with just our room and theirs about how excited we are for the field, what it will be like to be real missionaries, how we will approach talking to people etc. It was just so great to have discussions about our worries and about our calling with wonderful girls who all feel the same way I do about it all.

In Book of Mormon study with the class Hermano Hardy made an awesome connection that I thought I would share with you. We were reading about Alma the younger and his experience with the angel. He then referenced the scripture where Alma says "Oh that I were an angel and could speak with the voice of thunder" or something like that. Alma had such a life changing experience that he wanted to be able to speak like that angel to change others. It's not super deep or anything, but I had never made the connection between his experience and what he wanted to be able to do for others and I thought it was pretty cool. Maybe it was a "had to be there moment"....

We had an interesting encounter with an elder we met on the 4th. We talked to him for a few minutes waiting for the fireworks. He asked for our emails and we didn't know what to say but we gave him our first and last names. He totally emailed me all about himself, but I don't have time to email a random stranger so I haven't gotten back to him. We've seen him a few more times since then and it's a little awkward. Oh, the MTC. :) It's the best!

On Sunday our branch president, President Cosgrave was released because he and is wife are going to

President Cosgrave and Counselors 

serve a mission in Uganda. Our district was also given a bunch of new callings because we are now one of the oldest districts. Elders DJ and Kelley are Zone Leaders. Elders Cline and Pedersen are Portal Coordinators. Elder Brown is the Sacrament Coordinator. Elder Ringwood is our new District Leader. Hermanas Alley and Redford are Music Coordinators and Hermana Gardner and I are the new Sister Training Leaders. That means we get to go to all the meetings on Sunday and each night we go visit the Hermanas and talk and give them hugs. (Basically our job is to give them hugs.) We also get to interview the sisters once a week and just see how things are going. If any new sisters come in we help them and give tours and things like that. We are not getting a new district though this week so maybe next week we'll get that opportunity. We went and visited for the first time last night and it was super fun. BTW their dorms are WAY nicer than ours. It's okay. I love living in the ghetto dorms. It's kind of like Wasatch my first year at USU. Plus we have a prime location right next to 1M (the main building/cafeteria) the bookstore and close to our classroom. Here in the MTC things are still all about ourselves as we learn and get spiritually fed but this gives us an opportunity to look outward and focus on the Hermanas. We are getting to know them more and love them. I really want to practice loving everything about them and showing that in my actions and interactions with them.

Our new Branch President is President Laney (I think he may have been a mission president in Salt Lake). He is pretty interesting. He joined in our devotional review last night with our district (kind of like a mini testimony meeting where we talk about what we learned at the devotional). As we talked he was just writing scriptures on the board based on what we were saying. His scriptures were INSANE. Literally I don't think there was any white left of the page because of the all the words and markings and what not. Every. Single. Page. And he wrote about 20 scripture references on the board all from memory. He's crazy. He was a little...energetic and had about a million words of advice but he is definitely very smart and I can learn a lot from him.

Our air conditioner in our classroom has broken I think and it's so hot, even I am hot. Usually everyone else complains about the heat, even when the air conditioner is working, but you know it's bad when I'm complaining. Our ceiling also leaks when it rains haha so it kind of has a lovely humid musty feel. They are totally preparing us for Argentina. I love it. Our room is great though. The elders have stolen pictures from all the other rooms to decorate ours with so now the walls are filled.

Oh another great story. An elder in one of the other districts asked me if I was related to any Miller's a few weeks ago. I reminded him that my last name is Millet, not Miller but he kept insisting that I could still be related. It went on for a few rounds of me saying, "No, I'm not. My name is Millet" and he just insisted that I was related to Miller's too. "Maybe on your mom's side" he said. Eventually I just told him maybe I was somewhere down the line. It was hilarious. Hopefully you're laughing a little, or at least smiling. If not, just delete this paragraph and move on, it's hard to know the BTM from the seriously funny. :)

Elders on ugly tie day!

The elders can be a little frustrating, but I'm really trying to love them and appreciate them. I think I've been spoiled with too many awesome boys in my life. Everyone keeps comparing the elders to annoying brothers but my brother isn't annoying like them. And especially since I'm older, my friends are so much more mature and wonderful. I have to keep reminding myself that maybe my friends were like this in the MTC too.  Pray for me to love them. :)  In spite of the frustrations, I'm really trying to be supportive of the elders and their callings. They have grown a lot, however, and I know they will continue to grow.

Ah! I'm running out of time! NOOOO! Guess who spoke in Relief Society Sunday? Carole Mikita from Channel 5 news. She was amazing! She shared hers and her mother's conversion story. It was really powerful! I can't describe the whole story but it really gave me hope about following the spirit which will direct me to find those who need me. She also mentioned how when we teach children, even if their family doesn't join, we can spark a fire in them that they will remember later. That was the case for her in a way and it got me really excited to work with the children in Argentina. She is amazing. If you can look her up on the internet, you should try. It was one of those meetings where I didn't want it to end.

I will try to get my travel plans to you ASAP. I could find out my reassignment any time from tomorrow to Monday.

Thank you all so much for the letters and support! I love you and I love hearing about your lives! I hope you have a wonderful time on trek this week. Will you send a shout out to Connor Chandler from my kindergarten class? He sent me a picture that was adorable!

I LOVE YOU SOOOOOO MUCH!

Love,

Hermana Miller (cross out) Millet ;)

Hump Day!

A note from the parents - Before we post Jen's latest letter, we want to thank everyone who has sent her letters, cards, pictures and packages. It really means a lot to us and we think it has helped her transition into the mission field go smoothly.  She has such wonderful, caring friends and family and we love you for what you have done and are continuing to do for her.  Thank you!

Jen holding her many letters she wrote!  Look at that smile!

Hola!

Como estan Famila! I hope you are all doing well! I loved hearing about your 4th of July adventures. It all sounded so fun! One thing I miss is looking up at the mountains here and not being able to go up and hike or visit a pretty lake so I loved the pictures.

My cold is getting better. I still have a little cough (I kind of sound like a man, esta bien-that's our zone catch phrase) and a stuffy nose but I'm definitely feeling better. I just get made fun of. I also got Hermano Lunt and Hermana Redford sick, as well as maybe a few of the Elders...oops. They are getting over it quickly though.

Guess who wrote me a dearelder! Mrs. Reid! Isn't she soo sweet! In case I don't have time write her later today please let her know how grateful I am! I actually wanted to send her an invitation to my farewell but didn't know her address. She is a wonderful lady! I also got a package from the Rygg's (technically it was from Kevin) with some pictures and a great letter. They are so sweet! Will you tell him thank you and that I love and miss him! I bought some push pins today just so I can put his pictures up. I might try to get some tape and decorate our classroom with them as well. His handwriting is amazing! And his coloring is great! They are such a great family and Merri has always been such an example to me! I hope I can be the kind of missionary she was.

Pictures from Kevin Rygg

Here are a few highlights from the week:

P-Days - Always a highlight. Because I get to write you and wear jeans, and sometimes take a nap (usually Hermanas Redford and Gardner take naps while Hermana Alley and I write haha). It's also just a great day of rejuvenation after a stressful week. Last week I wrote 11 letters. I was quite proud of myself. I figure I'll try to write as much as I can here, because I may not have the opportunity to in Argentina.

4th of July - Our 4th of July was wonderful! Hermana Alley's family send her an awesome package with candy and decorations which we put up in our classroom (our maestro's loved it haha) and we dressed up in red, white and blue. Lots of the Hermana's around the MTC had the same idea so the whole campus was full of patriotism. It was awesome.

So patriotic!

That night we got to have a little devotional and watch the movie "17 Miracles". I love that movie. I tried not to cry too hard in front of all the elders though. Then we had ice cream bars and watched the fireworks.

So glad they got so see the Stadium of Fire fireworks!

(For the record, they were not as good as T-ville dayzz.) It was an awesome day! It was a little bittersweet, however, because I couldn't help but think of all you. We talked about how it is sad now, but we get to spend the rest of our lives celebrating with you and then we will look back on this 4th of July and remember how great it was to be in the MTC. Unfortunately, they didn't let us sleep in to make up for the fact that we stayed up so late so the next day was a little difficult.

We also taught Jose on the 4th. It was an awesome lesson!  After such a discouraging one last Tuesday it was a tender mercy to have the spirit in our lesson so strongly on Thursday. I really felt the spirit and tried to listen to his needs. One thing we focus on a lot here in the MTC is listening to the investigator and focusing on them, not teaching the lessons. We really want to help them be converted to the gospel by relating it to their lives. Sometimes this is difficult, because I can't understand a lot of what they say, but I'm learning to ask them to repeat and listen with the spirit. Most of the time I can't understand all the words, but I can understand the meaning of what they are saying through the spirit. I was then able to respond pretty well. I am so grateful that Heavenly Father pushes me, but that he also builds me up and helps me when I need it.

Friday's rainstorm - I LOVED the rain on Friday. We don't ever hear about the weather but we finally realized last week it hadn't rained at all. Unfortunately, we weren't able to play sand volleyball (my favorite!) because of the rain but it was okay. They gym was packed so we had to rotate a lot and the Elders were pretty competitive but it was fun. Have I told you that Elder DJ, from Australia, played volleyball professionally? He's pretty good when he wants to be.

Improving with Cris - We had our second lesson with Cris on Friday and our third yesterday. Each time we do a little better. Hermano Lunt stopped us on Friday in the middle of the lesson and helped us see what we could do better and then we really tried to focus on him and having the spirit. He is a difficult investigator because he is so apathetic. He understands it all but doesn't feel it. We did find out that he has some drug and alcohol problems which we can now address but we need to do better at applying the lessons to him so he understands how the gospel really can help him. On Friday poor Hermano Lunt had a cold (he blames it on me, but it's totally not my fault) and during our lesson with him he had a Kleenex up to his nose the whole time. It was hilarious. The hermana's and I laughed about it forever. I tried to offer him my soft Kleenex's you send but he was stubborn and wouldn't take them.

Favorite scriptures - Jacob 3:1-2 (I read this after our first awful lesson with Cris) Alma 26:27 (Hermana Gardner found this after we were a little discouraged and I LOVE it), D&C 123:15-17 (Bryce sent this to me. I love how we are small as missionaries but we can be so important to the work.) (Mosiah 24 This is like my favorite chapter of all time right now. It teaches us so much about the process of prayer and being patient, and thankful and waiting for more inspiration. I just love all of Mosiah. Today I was laughing about the fact that King Noah's (I think it was Noah) people ran away from the Lamanite's and left their wives and kids but then they came back. Do you think their wives just took them right back? Because I definitely wouldn't.)

Sunday - We had an awesome testimony meeting on Sunday (the kind where you can't bear yours even if you want to because the line is so long). I was starving but it was great to focus on a fast individually and as a district. I also found time to finally put all my mission goals down in my journal. Look up Christ like attributes in PMG. I wrote out my goals and then studied that section and realized all of my goals pretty much fall into one of those categories. We had a mission conference instead of RS/priesthood for fast Sunday and I learned lots of awesome things. I will see if I have time to share them with you in the next 10 minutes...ha not gonna happen. #1 I guess would be that Heavenly Father will always address our NEEDS. Bold=quiet and sincere. Living the gospel is knowing, doing and then becoming. Know+do=become.

Hermana Gardner - We are growing closer and closer every day. We just crack up about everything! She is awesome. 

Hermana Gardner and Hermana Millet

Each of the hermanas are so great. Hermana Alley is hilarious and she and I suffer through not knowing Spanish together. Hermana Redford and I have the same sense of humor and maturity. I also love Hermanas McNeil, Neilsen (celebrity companionship name McNeilsen) and Miller and Davis in the district above us. They are leaving next week. :( We are also getting to know and love the new hermanas that came in last Wednesday.

Awesome spiritual lessons - Yesterday we talked about conversion vs testimony. I want to convert my investigators, not just help them gain a testimony. We have to constantly be working towards conversion or the gospel will not change us. Hermano Hardy also chewed us out a little for not relating everything, language study included, to our purpose. We should take it all seriously and relate everything we learn back to how it can help our investigator in their life.

This weeks goals - Memorize the 1st vision in Spanish (started...), study for my investigator during personal study, LOVE my investigators, pray every morning and night as a companionship.

The elders - The older elders have taught the younger ones to carry our trays and put them away after each meal. So sweet. Muy caballeros! There are some elders in the All Elders district who are so nice to us and always say hi. One of them reminds me of Nate and I love it! Don't worry, we're not flirting, we got a reminder about that this week.

Perfect cleaning - Our room and classroom always get smiley faces because we clean so well. YES!

Toothbrush buddy - There is a sister going to the Philippines and we always brush our teeth at the same time. We've become friends.

Notebook from Aunt Mary - She is so nice and always sends me cards. This week she sent a cute little notebook to put in my scriptures case! So sweet!

Studying outside - The MTC grounds are gorgeous and I LOVE summer. Hermana Gardner and I study outside whenever we can. I sit in the sun and she sits in the shade. Surprise, surprise!

Out of time! I LOVE YOU! Letters will be coming soon. Have fun on trek and in Idaho! I'm glad you are safe Katie and your apartment is pretty and congrats on the job David!

Muchas amor!

Hermana Millet

Especially for my Kindergarteners!

Hello Kindergarteners!

How is your summer going? I have been spending the past three weeks learning sooo much! I'm practicing counting to 100 and learning the days of the week in Spanish, just like we did in Kindergarten! I also get to eat lots of yummy food (as much pineapple and chocolate milk as I want) and play volleyball in the sand almost every day. I am also meeting lots of new people and learning how to be an even better teacher. I like to tell my new friends all about how wonderful you are and how kind you are!

Thank you Lindsey and the Tafili family for the package! You are so sweet! I am putting the letter and pictures up on my wall today. I was so excited when I received it and showed your pictures to all of my friends!

I hope you are all spending lots of time playing outside in the sun, swimming, and READING! I get to read every day lots and lots and I am learning to love it more every day! I hope you are reading on your own and loving it! I miss you all! Have a great July!

Love,

Miss Jen

Randomness!

Hola! Como esta?! 

I think I got my package on Tuesday; it was so long ago I can't remember. I don't always get the dearelder right away because our district leader might not check the mail late enough in the day and when he does we don't get it until 9:30. I love all your letters though. They make me SOOO happy. 9:30 is my favorite time of the day. I LOVED the package…especially the blankets. My bed feels so much more comfy now. Everyone loves how soft the blankets are and the sisters in the zone think I'm like the queen of Sheba or something when I lay on my fuzzy blanket and read my pile of letters haha.

Hermana Millet with Brad Forsyth, a friend
from high school and teacher at the MTC.

I am doing so well! I've been so blessed to not really be homesick at all. I miss you all and I love hearing from you but I don't worry, which is good. On Saturday this week I woke up with a bad sore throat and all week I've been battling a cold. We don't get a ton of sleep and the days are busy which hasn't helped but I have been blessed to be able to focus most of the time and get everything done. On Saturday and Sunday I really didn't feel well and my throat hurt pretty bad. Saturday night Hermana Gardner was nice enough to stay home from our personal work out time so I could take a nap. I still don't sleep super well here but I got to rest at least. On Monday my head started getting really congested and I've used all the Kleenexes I brought and finished off the box in our classroom. BTW would you mind sending me some more little packs of Kleenex? The ones here are not quite so nice and my nose it super sore. Last night the cold moved into my chest so I've had a bad cough that hurts today. It's all a sign that it's moving forward though and I should be feeling better by Saturday.

Elder Seastrand from our ward
with Hermana Millet.

I'm definitely the most prepared out of my roommates for the cold, they don't have boots or sleeping bags or coats. I'll have to pay for it in the extra fees, but it will be nice to be ready. BTW my new date is the 29th so will you update the blog. I've had a few friends write the 30th and the mail people correct it.

I saw Jay Seastrand on his first day and we got a picture together. He looked so happy and ready! I have been really impressed with him lately, like when he gave the prayer at my farewelll. He is a super mature kid and I know he will make a great missionary.  I have also seen Darian and Greyson in passing.

Here's the basic week review:

The days have been better and better and I feel happy all the time. I feel totally content and the MTC feels real. My teachers are soooo cool! Hermano Lunt served in El Salvador. I can tell he was an awesome missionary who worked hard, loved the people, and had the spirit with him. Hermano Hardy is super short but he's a spiritual giant. He loves us so much and wants to help us so badly. Sometimes in class we get to have English lessons about the Doctrine or the Book of Mormon.. Those are my favorites! I love learning from them and feeling the spirit.

On Friday night after our favorite volleyball game of the week outside in the sand we had a zone talent show. (I learned later that it was kind of against the rules but oh well.) We had an elder chug three bottles of water in 21 seconds, an elder who sings like Jason Mraz, a sister who yodels, Hermana Gardner, Redford and I sang and more. It was so fun! I love our zone.

Our first normal Sunday was pretty good. We have Relief Society in the morning with all the sisters and Sister Sheri Dew spoke. It was SO cool! She is awesome. She talked about exact obedience which Hermana Gardner and I are really trying to work on. She said, "Obedience brings blessings. Exact obedience brings miracles." I LOVED that. Exact obedience is something small I know I can do 100% perfectly which will bring great blessings. She also talked about how we have to authorize the spirit to teach us by inviting it there and being ready to listen. That was also really great. I won't give you a play by play of her whole talk but it was great.

Then we had Sacrament Meeting with just our zone. For Sacrament meeting we all have to write a 5 minute talk in Spanish on a specific subject, such as baptism this week and they announce after the sacrament who will be speaking. Terrifying! Luckily I wasn't called on this week. There's a greater chance the longer I am here though. Did you know the MTC counts this as my 3rd week?! Today is my 2 week anniversary but according to them I'm in the middle of my third week (weeks start on Monday). I only have 3 full weeks left! Holy cow! 

Later that afternoon we had the temple walk where we basically walk around the temple and take pictures and relax (in the blazing heat haha).  I have seen Tisha a few time and we got a picture together on Sunday during our temple walk before she headed out to Arizona today. She is adorable!

Hermana Millet with Sister Tisha Santana
from our stake.

That night we had a devotional by Robert P. Swenson who has been working in the missionary department for a long time and is the new mission president for the Brazil MTC. He was great. He talked about things he has learned. Later that night we watched an old devotional from Elder Holland from this last Thanksgiving Day in the MTC. It was SOO good. Obviously, it's Elder Holland. He talked to us about how lucky we are to be on the earth in the last days. It was a very spiritually uplifting day.

Monday was kind of normal. Study, teach, eat, repeat. In the cafeteria have some good wraps and salads that I eat for lunch a lot. This week I discovered putting pineapple in my wrap. It was A-MAZ-ING. My zone sits in the cool kids part of the cafeteria away from everyone else haha, it's great. The elders like to toss their napkins around and see if they can get them inside someone's cup. Oh Elderes. (That's our catchphrase that the Hermanas and teachers say all the time, "Elderes, Elderes, Elderes".) On Monday night we have a great tradition of having FHE with all the sisters in our Zone where we eat junk and talk. I love all the Hermanas. They are so wonderful. PS the picture last week was of bunday Monday...because on Mondays we wear buns. Ten awesome points to whoever can name that movie reference.

Tuesday was kind of a hard day for me. We did the TRC for the first time which is where members come in (who can speak Spanish) and we get to know them and teach them a lesson. The first lady we taught is a grad student at BYU who spoke Spanish on her mission. She was super nice and patient with our Spanish and spoke very clearly. The second lady was a little older and a Mexican native. She spoke really quickly and directed most of her comments to Hermana Gardner because she can understand them and respond better. She was super nice but it was a little discouraging. That afternoon we had our first teaching appointment with our "new investigator" Cris (aka Hermano Lunt). For some reason I was really nervous. I guess I wanted to impress Hermano Lunt since we haven't taught him yet. We have been studying, "How to begin teaching" in class which is all about getting to know them and bridging into the lesson. I totally get that in English but it's a little more difficult when I can't understand what they say to respond or say the words I want to. Hermana Gardner and I have been doing a lot of role playing though and I felt prepared. I said a prayer before we went in and felt comforted and ready. It started out okay, although Cris was a little difficult. But then we jumped into the religious aspect of things way too fast and I didn't know how to back it up. I was worried and frustrated and I think the spirit left. The rest of the lesson went downhill from there. We couldn't even remember the tune to the hymn we were going to sing in Spanish (it's hard because you don't have the words to remind you, you just have to go off the notes) We had practiced and had harmony down and I felt like it would really bring the spirit but we butchered it haha. The bright point was at the end I bore my testimony and I tried to look right at him and get the spirit back and I think that part went okay.

It was frustrating but a really good learning experience. I know I'm going to have to continue to have patience in my self and trust more in the Lord. I hope everyone doesn't think I'm super discouraged because I'm not. I really do love it here and am learning so much! It is a trying time.

I am out of time. Sorry! Requests: stamps, envelopes, white t-shirts that look semi decent (or my grey half marathon one) a few more socks (regular-the best looking ones) Kleenex, homemade goodies-if you decide to send goodies. The end. Love you!

Love you!

Hermana Millet