I love members!

Mi Familia!

I love you all sooo much!

Please, tell the Rygg's thank you! They sent me an adorable card from Kevin. Aunt Nancy also sent me a postcard so will you please thank her for me!

I'm only sending one picture today but it's pretty important!

 HAPPY BIRTHDAY KATIE AND DAVID. Hopefully you got my letter last week. I am so excited to hear how your first week of school goes Katie and how everything continues to work out with you Brother. I love you both SOOOO much! Sorry I didn't send presents or a card but know that I love you and am thinking of you today. Maybe I'll go eat a piece of cake for you today.

PS. Speaking of which mama, thanks for the wonderful information about walking all over Argentina. Danish Desserts here I come!

Editor's note:  In my last letter to Jen I wrote:  I was reading on the Buenos Aries West blog and Sister Carter the mission president's wife wrote:  “I remember my first month in the mission, I felt like I walked a hundred miles…and I am not even out in the streets All Day Long.  I can only imagine how our new missionaries feel.  It was interesting to learn that one of them has been wearing a pedometer.  When I was checking his agenda, I happened to see this note from yesterday:  21,604 steps   10.207 miles.  Most of the walking is not done on smoothly paved sidewalks or roads.  In spite of that, the missionaries all seem to like their time on the streets.”  So, my conclusion is…eat all the good stuff you want in Solvang because you are going to work it off in Buenos Aries.  LOL

Solvang is such a blessed area! I am so grateful to be serving in such a wonderful area full of the spirit of missionary work. There really are people prepared to hear the gospel and we are doing our best to find them and teach by the spirit. My greatest desire is to be the tool the Lord wants me to be here in this area. Each day I am trying to better earn the presence of the spirit and follow its counsel in our lessons. I have begun to focus less on myself and the personal struggles I am having and more on my investigators, or at least I hope I am. I know that is how I will find true happiness myself and how I will be better able to serve the Lord's children.

I am so grateful for the ward and their support. The bishopric and ward council are "hastening the work of salvation" and becoming united as a missionary force. One of my main goals in this area is to help establish a better working relationship between the ward and the missionaries and get everyone excited about the work. I have seen, just in the few short weeks here, how important those relationships are with the ward and how much they help our investigators. We have really been blessed with miracles this week because of the faithful efforts of ward members.

On Monday we were able to have a lesson in the Klitgaard home with our investigators Carl, Dawn and Woody. We taught the restoration and it was wonderful! Brother and Sister Kiltgaard had such wonderful thoughts and brought the spirit and I was so impressed with how Brother Klitgaard was able to connect with 10 year old Woody. It was such a miracle lesson and I felt the spirit working through Hermana Cannon and I as we tried to focus on how the restoration of the gospel blesses families.

On Tuesday we were able to finally contact a family that we had been trying to get a hold of for a week. This family was referred to us by a wonderful member family, the Swolgaard's, the week before during a dinner appointment. We stopped by the Stacy home and after talking to the father, Chad, for just a few minutes he invited us to have dinner with them. That evening happened to be one of the few this week that we didn't have a dinner appointment with someone in the ward (another small miracle) and so we stayed and talked with them through dinner. They are an incredibly sweet, spiritual family with four children that are so ready for the blessings of the gospel. Throughout the meal we discussed religion and their upbringings and after dinner we were able to share a small part of the restoration and how we have a living prophet on the earth today. We then heard from Sister Swolgaard that the mom, Sarah, loved meeting us and was touched by our message. We are planning to have a lesson in the Swolgaard home with them on Friday and we are so excited. We learned in Ward Council on Sunday that the Swolgaard's have had the Stacy Family as a focus of their ward mission plan for the past three years. They have been slowly forming a trusting relationship and opening doors to the church through scouts and the primary program and now our hope is that they are ready to hear and accept the fullness of the gospel. I am SO excited to begin working with them.

On Wednesday we organized and put together a combined youth activity about missionary work. We gave each of the youth mission calls the Sunday before and that night they had a "mini mission". They went to the "MTC" where they learned a few phrases in their assigned mission language and learned the basics of how to teach the restoration. They then knocked on doors and taught two ten minute lessons. We then came back together and talked about what they learned and how important missions are. There were some who definitely focused and learned a little more than others, but overall I hope the youth learned from it.

On Wednesday after district meeting we went to this cute old couple's house in Lompoc who took our pictures and are going to make us little business cards with our picture, email address etc. to give to our converts or favorite members who want to contact us. Isn't that sweet!? I'll have to send one home when I get them.

On Thursday we were able to find another wonderful investigator through a member family, the Watson's. Sister Watson called us in tears on Tuesday night after she and her husband had visited a friend, Claudia. Claudia worked for the Peace Corps for the past two years fixing sewing machines and recently had to have surgery on her fingers because of all her work. Brother Watson was able to give Claudia a priesthood blessing and they talked to her about priesthood authority. Apparently, Claudia was really touched. Sister Watson shared with us that her father, who recently passed away, was a major influence in the life of Claudia and that he had been slowly helping her to come closer to the church for years. On Thursday we were able to visit with Claudia and do a few things for her around her house that she hasn't been able to do because of the surgery. We then discussed a little bit of the restoration with her and answered some of her questions about the church. She then came to church on Sunday and we have a lesson with her tomorrow. She is a sweet woman and we can't wait to help her receive the fullness of the gospel!

We had a bit of a funny experience on Thursday as we tried to get a member to go with us to a lesson with our investigator Andy. We decided to call Sister Bailey, a woman in the ward who helped us with our youth activity the night before. Well, it turns out there are multiple Sister Bailey's and we called an older lady who was still willing to come with us. We figured it would be a great opportunity to meet someone new. When she arrived at the meeting and we began talking with her before the lesson she informed us that she is actually not a member! Her husband is apparently less active and she has received the lessons but has never been baptized! She joined us on the lesson anyway and had some great words of advice and encouragement for Andy. We were not able to get a "member present" out of it like we had planned but maybe God was working in a different way and wanted us to help her as well. She was so sweet to agree to come with us and is a wonderful woman that will hopefully join the church eventually. Isn't that just so sweet of her to come with us even though she's not a member! What the heck. Who does that? Apparently this cute lady. We thought it was a hilarious turn of events though.

Throughout the week we have also met wonderful members through dinner appointments who are so strong and share the gospel wherever they can. On Thursday we ate with Sister Grant and she invited her non-member mother and step father. As we talked with them about the church and their religious beliefs they both became very negative and attacked the church rather harshly. Sister Grant, who is widowed, very meekly and boldly stood up to them. We tried to support her and defend the church in a loving, respectful manner but they were both quite hard-hearted. She was such an inspiration to us, however, in her deep faith and willingness to live the gospel alone, without support.

On Friday we ate with a man named Brother Adre. He took us to a little pancake house where they make special Danish pancakes. Guess what. I got french toast. :) I did try Hermana Cannon's pancakes though. They are kind of a mix between a pancake and a crepe. My french toast was better LOL. He was this super sweet old man though. He met his wife right before he was supposed to go into the armed forces and married her two weeks later! They've now been married 70 years! Can you believe it! He was a great old man.

That evening Bishop Haws came on two Spanish speaking appointments with us. Our first appointment was with Maria, a lady Hermana Bartschi and I met on exchanges. I love Maria and her fiery personality and quick questions. She and Bishop Haws clicked immediately and I learned so much from him in his teaching. He was excited, bold, loving and powerful at the same time. I was excited because I understood most of the conversation between them and could see the progress Maria is making. I love it when I can understand everything they say! It definitely helps when they are talking about the gospel though. When they go off on other tangents I'm completely lost haha. He explained so simply to her that the church is either right or wrong. It is black or white and that there is no middle ground. I loved his ability to say so with such power and authority but also love. It was a wonderful experience to watch and learn from him.

On Saturday we had another miracle. We have been teaching this lady who has tuberculosis. (Yeah I know. Super bad to be teaching her. She wasn't supposed to have visitors but Hermana Cannon really wanted to talk to her. I'm not dead yet though so I think God protected us.) Well we had two men from the ward give her a priesthood blessing last Sunday and we went on Saturday this week and she wasn't wearing her mask. We were like, "Domitila, where is your mask?" and she said, "I'm tuberculosis free!" She was totally healed. Now I don't really know much about TB and the timing of healing and everything so maybe it could be somewhat logically explained but it can't be just coincidence that it happened right after she received a blessing. Unfortunately, she couldn't see that and refused to even pray to know if our church could be true so we won't be teaching her anymore but it was an awesome blessing. It was probably a good lesson for me to recognize miracles and not doubt because I immediately thought about medically what might have been going on since I don't really know about tuberculosis.

That day we also visited a few LARCS (less active or recent convert). One of them was named Sister Dee Anderson. She is an old lady who reminds me of Grandma. She was so sweet and totally agreed that the church is true and she needs to come back. Her daughter's family is another less active/part member family. We had an awesome discussion with her about how her coming back to the church could really bless her family. We were pretty honest but she took it so well and was soo sweet. I loved her.

We had multiple other lessons with members present this week and were able to see so many wonderful things going on. On Sunday we attended ward council and the Bishop began by playing a few clips from the new Hastening the Work of Salvation website. The whole ward council then discussed how they can be more involved in the missionary efforts. With our new enthusiastic Ward Mission Leader, Brother Liljenquist, and the support of the ward council I can't wait to see what other miracles are waiting for Solvang!

There are so many personal goals I am working on right now to have the spirit with me, to be charitable, kind and selfless with my investigators and Hermana Cannon. I am learning so much from this area and the experiences we have here.

AH! I'm out of time. I'll tell you the other stories by snail mail.

LOVE LOVE LOVE! Is what I have for you.

Love Jen

Milagros! (AKA Miracles)

Familia,

How are you all! Thank you for the wonderful letters! This week I have been so lucky to get so many. Thank you thank you! I got a sweet letter from Vicki with adorable pictures by the Ice Cream Chef (aka Matson). Will you tell them both thank you for me! I also got two from Aunt Kathy, one from Danny, and one from David and Katie. As well as a few from my wonderful parentals. :) Thank you all!

A cute heart we found.  Because I love you soooo much!

 I've copied some of my letter to President Castro and added it here so it might sound super formal and spiritual but Danny suggested that's a good way to make use of email time. So sorry if I sound all weird and missionary. (BTW funny story: A lady in the ward asked Hermana Wright why she sounds like a robot and why all missionaries sound the same haha! AH! I don't want to sound like a missionary robot! Some of the missionaries have it bad! Don't let me do it!)

This week things have been going really well. We have really focused on our district goals to get 7 member present lessons and 7 baptismal invites. With the Lord's help we were able to accomplish both of these goals. It came down to Sunday evening and we had two member present lessons scheduled. Unfortunately, one of our investigators cancelled. We knew that with faith we could still have a miracle that evening and get one more member present. We stopped the car and said a prayer asking the Lord to help us know what do to. Just as we finished the prayer we received a phone call from a member and we were able to visit a woman we have been teaching with her to get our last member present lesson for the week. Although it didn't work out the way we had planned, and we were saddened by the news of our first set of investigators, the Lord blessed us when we had faith. It really was a miracle.

On Tuesday of this week we had exchanges with the Sister Training Leaders. Hermana Bartschi worked with me. She is so wonderful! I immediately felt comfortable with her and knew that it was going to be a great day. I had some emotions which had been welling up inside for the past few weeks and she was just what I needed.

We started out the day with some great study which really helped me prepare for the day. Hermana Bartschi was so complementary of my Spanish, which isn't coming along quite as quickly as I would like, in part because we are doing a lot of English work here in Solvang. She helped to give me the confidence and re-commitment to continue working on it during language study.

Immediately after studies we went to visit a referral we had received from Elder Nalder (our district leader) who had come to work in our area the week before. We met Maria and had an awesome lesson with her about the restoration in Spanish! Hermana Bartschi really included me in the lesson and I actually understood most of the conversation and was able to contribute which hasn't been happening much in our other lessons. We talked for a long time with Maria and she seems very intrigued. We have another lesson with her tonight and my hope is that she has prayed about Joseph Smith and will be even more open to receiving the truth.

As we continued on throughout the day, visiting less actives and teaching lessons I learned so much from Hermana Bartschi. She asked about me and about my life at home and as we talked we became friends and I felt more comfortable with her. She is so animated in her teaching and has a great balance of boldness and love. I want to incorporate some of her wonderful teaching styles into my own teaching as well.

Sister Bartschi and I found a pear tree in someone's yard that
 was just going to waste (the whole ground was covered with
 pears) so we did them a favor and took a few to eat. :)

As the night ended and we pulled back into our apartment complex we sat in the car and reviewed all that we had learned. I was able to open up to her about some of my concerns about the language, my mission, my companion etc. It was nice to feel free to talk about some of those things and know that she has been through them too and that I can still be a good missionary, even though I have had doubts and concerns and difficulties.

The rest of the week has been full of other wonderful miracles.

On Wednesday we were able to visit some of our progressing investigators whom we hadn't heard from in a while. We sat and talked with Carl, who has been going through a lot of difficult things with his health, with taking care of his son and fighting custody battles with his son's mother etc. We were able to talk to him and support him. We read some scriptures together about how the Lord can support us in our trials and he had some amazing insights and analogies about how the Savior helps him in his life. At times he seems to not understand the scriptures but at others he really shows a deep understanding about the atonement and the gospel of Jesus Christ. He is so ready to accept the fullness of the gospel and I can't wait for the day when he is baptized.

We found out about some help he needed in his home to prepare for a social worker to come see their home a few days later and were able to organize a miracle service project for him. We had a few women from the Relief Society who volunteered to help clean his house, and our district leader and his companion (Elder Nalder and Elder Lee) who were in the area helped work in the yard. It was all organized within less than 24 hours and we made such a difference. We were so grateful for the ward and for the wonderful people who volunteered to help. It felt so great to be able to give service and help Carl and his family.

Unfortunately, they were not able to attend church yesterday. We stopped by and talked with him and his girlfriend, Dawn, last night and learned that she doesn't feel that she is ready to really study the gospel at this time. It is something that she wants but with so many changes and adjustments going on in her life right now she doesn't feel ready for the commitment. They are going to talk about how best to handle the situation but I know it will happen for them and their family at some point. I was so grateful that we were able to feel love for her as we talked with her and just try to show our love and support.

Ygnacio, our 17 year old investigator is still working to get his permission slip signed. We fasted for his parents' hearts to be softened yesterday and I know that with faith it will happen. Every time we stop by to check in he shows such faith and a desire to change, which helps my faith to grow. He even went to young mens on Wednesday and said he had a good time! One of our major concerns with him is being fellowshipped by the ward and this was a great opportunity for him to get to know the youth in the ward.

We've seen a few more miracles with another young man named Jesse. He has been fellowshipped by a wonderful family, the Bells, in the ward and we were able to have dinner at the Bells with Jesse and his inactive father this week. We shared a great lesson with them and his father even asked for a Book of Mormon. Sister Bell asked Jesse if he would be willing to begin taking the discussions from us and he agreed! This is a huge step with him! We have been working on getting to this point for weeks now and I am excited about the opportunity to teach him and maybe even help reactivate his divorced inactive parents.

On Thursday Brother Millett invited us over for lunch. He is SOOO sweet. His wife is kind of sick and he just takes care of her. He was such a gentleman to us and pulled out our chairs etc. He had all sorts of stuff for sandwiches out and wanted us to eat and eat. He makes freezer jam which is sooo good. Apparently you just use the recipe on the back of a box of pectin with strawberries and freeze it. You should try it. He sent the rest home with us and we got a loaf of homemade bread from another lady on Saturday so we have been in heaven. He also had nutella and we tried nutella with the jam. Yes, it sounds weird, but try it. It's actually pretty good. Sister Millett wanted to show me all about their family history. I'll send you their address and number in my handwritten letter.

Ah! Out of time! There is a lady from Argentina in our ward and we ate and spoke Spanish with her this week (well they spoke and I listened lol). There is also an amazing family that I love! Sister Williams is awesome and her 4 year old is my new best friend. I'll tell you the rest in my handwritten letter.

It's been a wonderful week full of lessons, wonderful investigators and new investigators! We are now hoping to help our investigators progress and get a few baptismal dates. I am working to become the missionary the Lord wants me to be and learn from Hermana Cannon all that I can.

Good luck at school Oli!

Love Hermana Millet

Week two in Fairytale Land!

Hello my favorite people! (Don't cry Olie! ;))

I got all my pictures sent today, hopefully. But unfortunately that means very little time to write. :( I'm so sorry! I will try to write it all in a real letter today.

This store is Christmas all year round? Amazing I can't wait to go inside.

This week has been much better. Each day gets a little better and better. The people here are soo sweet and all want to help. I love the ward. We got to speak in church yesterday which was a lot of fun. I was worried about saying what the ward needs and wanting to make a good impression.  I don't know if I got across what I wanted, but I felt pretty good about it as I was speaking so that's a relatively good sign.

Awesome hotel in Solvang

In the few minutes I have I want to tell you about my favorite investigator (shh I don't have favorites). His name is Ygnacio (yeah, it sounds Spanish but he doesn't speak it :() He is 17 years old and is so great! He has been through a lot and really just has such a sincere desire to know the truth and change. We taught him on Tuesday and again on Thursday. On Thursday we taught him about the restoration and before we could even get out the invitation to be baptized he said yes with such excitement and enthusiasm it just melted my heart. I am so excited for him! He wasn't able to come to church this Sunday but I'm hoping he will be able to keep his commitments, come the rest of the month and be baptized on September 7th! That's super close and it will take a lot of work, but I know it is possible. I can just see his whole life changing if he knows it is true and is able to get baptized. He could go on a mission and get married in the temple and have a ward family of people that love him! Ah! I'm so excited.

It's an orange tree!  AHH!

Our other investigators, Carl, Woody, and Dawn, are also doing well. Dawn works when we are able to teach them except for Sunday and Monday so we only got to visit with Carl and Woody this week during the day. We read 1 Nephi with him and helped explain things and talked about baptism. Unfortunately, Carl is still technically married to his wife (they are working out custody issues with Woody) and can't get baptized until he gets married. Therefore, it could be a while before they are able to get baptized. I was pretty sad about that at first but I'm learning about the Lord's timetable (and really the timetable for anyone who isn't on a mission). We think in 6 week transfers, but really, as long as they are able to get baptized when it is the right time for them that is all that matters. I don't want them to be baptized for me. I want them to be baptized so they can receive the Holy Ghost and be a forever family. I just have to remember that sometimes.

We visited a lady who is less active who owns a lavender farm this week. Didn't know that existed? Neither did I until three day ago. They have a whole acre or more of lavender plants and then they refine it (or whatever the correct term is called) and put in into all sorts of oils and spices and things. It's a cute little store and we had a good visit with her son, who unfortunately isn't interested in the gospel, but it was a fun adventure and he gave us lavender honey and oil.

Lavender store in Solvang we visited.

OH! Also! Guess what! Our ward is LOADED! We went to visit the ward mission leader and he told us to just drive up this hill, well, it turns out it's a private estate thing with a locked gate and these gigantic houses that look over the whole valley. We jokingly asked if he'd ever had the whole ward over and he said, "well we did have the stake over once for a campout." What!? Then on Saturday we went to the RS president's house that lives up there as well. She's super sweet but her house is even bigger with a fancy pool house and everything.

Solvang Hermanas

Another fun fact: make this sandwich Nicolioli. You'll love it. Avacado, seasoned salt, ham, spinach or lettuce and ranch. mmmm. I'm hungry! I'm also in desperate need of graham crackers today because we have a big jar of PB (peanut butter) and I can't indulge on our favorite snack!

Things are going better with Hermana Cannon and I am learning to appreciate her and learn from her. Thank you for all of your prayers and support. You are wonderful!

Jennifer with companion Amanda Cannon

The work is moving along. I'm trying to practice Spanish as much as possible, but it's really hard while we are in an English area. We have talked to a few Spanish people and I'm learning how much I don't know but I know if I put forth the effort during the day (which Hermana Cannon and I haven't been very good at) that I will learn. I'm sure as soon as I get comfortable here the Lord will uproot me and send me to Argentina. I can't decide if I want that day to come soon or not lol.

We have a new goal in the district to have 7 baptismal invites each week and 7 lessons with a member present each week. It's going to take a lot of work and planning but I know we can do it with faith. Oh, you should look up the book "The Power of Every Day Missionaries". The ward here is talking about starting a blog with the youth and I'm super excited about it (not that I can really be involved but it's an awesome idea!) We are also planning an activity with the youth for next Wednesday where they will get mini mission calls and go knocking on doors (just inside the church) to help them get excited about missionary work.

Well, time is up! I love you so much!

Hermana Millet

Jennifer with Sister Speth at the MTC.

MTC Hermanas with copies of their reassignment letters. 

Solvang = Danish for Sunny Field

Mom's note:  Jen sent a copy of a letter from the missionary department of the church indicating that her visa has not yet been approved, but they are doing everything possible to secure her visa.  In the meantime, they encourage her to work hard, remain focused and to be involved in all aspects of missionary work.

Hola familia!

I hope you are all still alive! I haven't gotten any letters from you. :( I'm not sure if you've done dearelder. I don't know how that works. I have gotten one from Aunt Kathy and one from Aunt Mary. Just send them to the mission home and they will forward them to me. I'll send you more info about my address in a real letter because I forgot the paper that tells me my address and how to send packages (not that I expect any but just in case).

Email time is cut in half between you and my mission president so I'll have to learn to only tell you the most important things.

I am in a town called Solvang. It is a little Danish town that looks like it is in the middle of Disneyland or Gilmore Girls or some crazy movie.

Picture of Solvang from the internet

Another picture from the internet.
Jen's pictures did not come.

It's basically insane though. I love it. It gets pretty cold at night but hot during the day. It's very touristy and there are all sorts of little pastry shops (we're planning on trying one today) and random stores along the main road (There is a picture-if it sends-of a Christmas all year long store. Isn't that awesome! I thought Nicole would appreciate that.) They also have lights on the trees that they light up every night. Seriously G squared status. (Mom's note, for those that don't know, that is another Gilmore Girl's reference.)

My companion is Sister Cannon from South Jordan, Utah (she is actually in Bishop Buckner's ward). She has been out for about six months. She is great. She went to BYU for a while studying psychology.

There are four hemanas here in our town/ward and not a lot of Spanish work. Hermana Wright and Hermana Tokalogi (might be spelled wrong) are the other sisters. They are both from Hawaii and Hermana Tokalogi flew on the plane with me and is waiting for her VISA to ARG as well.

The whole ward is English speaking and so far we've spoken to maybe two or three people in Spanish. Therefore, I'm loving teaching in English but my Spanish is suffering. I'm working on speaking Spanish with Hermana Cannon on our own time but it's hard because it's just so much easier to speak English. She is completely fluent. She studied it a lot in high school, lived in Spain as a foreign exchange student and lived in Spanish housing at BYU. She can help a lot but it's hard when she can speak so much better with everyone we talk to. I'm working on it though.

To answer your question Dad, one of the mission couple elders was waiting for us at the airport when we got in. I don't think they were upset we were late as it wasn't our fault.

We have a car (I won't drive because I wasn't asked to send in a driving record or anything else). It's a Chevy Malibu, but it's kind of messy on the inside (dang elders lol). Our areas are half of Solvang, Ballard, Santa Ynez and Los Olivos. The other hermanas have half of Solvang and Buellton.

Oh random fact: Michael Jackson's Neverland Ranch or whatever it was called is in my area and the Bachelor mansion is in my mission. Que que!?

We have one family of investigators that are really promising. The dad, Carl, called the Elders who were here in the area on Monday and said he is ready to commit. We met with him and his son Woody (10) on Thursday and he, woody and his girlfriend Dawn came to church yesterday. We then had an awesome lesson in a member's home with them that evening. The spirit was so strong and the member's 12 year old son was awesome at sharing his testimony. That family was sooo cool and the lesson went really well. I'm hoping we have a baptismal date with them soon. We can't meet again until Sunday because Dawn works until late every night but we will stop by and maybe read with Carl and Woody (Carl is on disability for back issues and has a hard time reading).

The members are wonderful! They have all been so nice. I definitely appreciate missionary meals. (You should feed the missionaries). FYI I might have to use more of my debit card money this month. $140 isn't a lot of money for food especially when the only thing we had when we got here was some cup of soup and ant filled cereal. I also had to buy another pillow and blanket, shampoo and conditioner etc. My blow dryer also died and I may have killed my companions so I need to buy one for each of us. Sorry to use all my money. I'll be a better budgeter later.

There is a Cecil Millet (pronounced a little differently) who is the stake patriarch. I think we're related somehow.

Also, a little girl gave me some paper flowers at church. Her mom told us she has been praying for sister missionaries to come to the area for a while.

Ah! I'm almost out of time! Will you edit all my mistakes!? I'm so sorry! I promise I know how to write!

My pics won't attach. :( Sorry

LOVE You! Write more in a real letter.

Love Jen

Missionary Work Has Already Begun!

Tuesday, July 30, 2013

Hola Familia!

It was so wonderful to talk to you all yesterday!  Guess what?  I sat behind a girl on the plane yesterday who is moving here for law school and she had her two dogs with her.  They were so cute and well behaved.  We talked a little and I gave her a pass along card telling her if she needs help moving in or something we'd love to help. But I didn't have my contact info so she gave me hers! I probably wasn't quite as bold about the church as I should have been, but I hope I am able to go talk to her and maybe give her a lesson.  She was so nice!  I also gave a Book of Mormon to a girl we were sitting in front of.  She's from England, about 17-20 I'd say, and is here visiting her family.  She was reading "The Hunger Games" and we talked about it a little.  I then pulled out a Book of Mormon I'd bought at the bookstore and wrote a little note in it and gave it to her.  Who knows if she'll read it, but it can't hurt.

Last night we were the last group of missionaries of about 40-50 to come in.  We ate dinner, had a meeting and then I was interview by President Castro.  He is awesome.  He's super nice, but you can tell he expects a lot from his missionaries.  I think I'm going to like him.  We didn't get out of the stake center til about 10:30.  Everyone stayed at members's homes but me and one other sister who stayed with the Sister Training Leaders.  Our experience wasn't quite as homey, but I did get to try almond milk this morning and I'm glad I was with Sister Reyes.  She is from San Diego and just drove straight up here with her family.  I think last night was a little hard for her because she just said goodbye.  She is a native Spanish speaker and didn't go to the MTC.

Today I'll get my companion and get to work.  You can send letters to the mission office and Mondays are my P-day so I'll write you in a week.  It's been a long two days, but I'm trying to keep a good attitude, love the mission, love the missionaries and most of all love the people.

I think that is about all.  There's nothing too exciting to tell you yet.  My companion will probably have a car so I'll have to try real hard not to get fat. Haha.  Also, I'm sitting in a primary room right now which makes me super happy! Haha.

Thank you for being so wonderful and supportive all the time.  You're the bestest family in the whole wide world.  I LOOOOOVE You!!!

Love,
Hermana Millet

New Address - Letter from Mission President

This is a letter we received today from Jennifer's new Mission President:

Dear Brother and Sister Millet:

Sister Jennifer Michelle Millet arrived safely in our mission on Monday, July 29, 2013.  As we met her at the airport she appeared to be in good health, had a smile upon her face and was eager to begin serving in the California Ventura Mission.

She received training and spent her first night here in Ventura.  After breakfast today, we held a transfer meeting, and then she went to her assigned area in Solvang, California, with her companion, Sister Cannon.  Enclosed you will find a photo of her with Sister Castro and me.

Your daughter's permanent address in the mission field is the mission office address, which is 3301 W. Gonzales Road, Oxnard, CA 93036.  There is a normal period of adjustment as your missionary adapts to the mission field, and your assistance during this time will be greatly appreciated.

Thank you for raising such a noble young woman.  We already love her as our own and will do everything we can to help her succeed.  We are delighted to have her with us.

I share with you my testimony that this is the work of the Lord and pray that our Father in Heaven's choicest blessing will be upon you and your family as your missionary serves with us in California.

Sincerely,

Fernando R. Castro

President, California Ventura Mission