Miracles!

This week has been wonderful! Each week has gotten better and better and each day is getting better and better as well. Throughout the week we had some stressful days and were worried about getting our key indicators completed for the week but we kept working hard and with faith we were able to see miracles.

On Wednesday Hermana Suarez traveled to Ramos Mejia for the Hermana Entranador Reunion and Hermana Patrone and I were left here in Lujan. I was pretty worried about knowing the area, speaking Spanish, and taking care of our appointments and investigators on my own. I really prayed for help throughout the day and it ended up being such a great experience.

Hermana Patrone doesn´t speak much English at all and so I was forced to speak Spanish all day. What a blessing! It was difficult at times but she was so patient with me and I learned a lot.

It also gave me a small taste of what it might be like to train. Obviously, I wasn´t training Hermana Patrone but trying to take the lead of the area and explain things to her was great practice for me. I also felt a little more confident in the area as I had to navigate the streets by myself and learn how and where to go.

One of the greatest experiences of the day was in teaching with Hermana Patrone. Since being here I haven´t always felt that I am a contributing member of the conversation in lessons or with members. I often just sit and listen. Hermana Suarez is a great teacher but our styles are not necessarily the same and I have a hard time knowing what direction she is going with the lessons. In teaching with Hermana Patrone I felt much more like myself, or the missionary I want to be, who receives inspiration during the lesson and who has something valuable to contribute. We were able to work together to teach the lessons simply. Neither of us are great scriptorians (we are both new and I don´t know my Spanish scriptures very well) but we had the desire to help the people we taught and I felt that we taught with the spirit. It was so nice to feel my purpose once again as a missionary and know that someday I can be the kind of missionary I want to be in Spanish as well.

On Friday we did not yet have all of the indicators and we needed new investigators. That day we were able to find five new investigators, one right after the other beginning first thing in the morning. It was such a miracle and a testimony builder for me to see how Heavenly Father takes care of us when we pray in faith.

On Sunday we worked really hard to get our fechas to church. We went to the home of Clara in the morning to help her and her children all attend together. She is a less active member and her two children, Tatiana and Pablo are going to be baptized on the 24th. We have been working with her all week to help her understand that she needs to attend church with her children and that this needs to be a change as a whole family. We had some setbacks along the way but eventually we were able to get Clara and all of her children at church. It was so great to see them all there in Primary and Sacrament Meeting as a family.

We were not expecting Cinthia to come to church because we she has been having doubts about the church but we found out at the beginning of Sacrament Meeting that she had been there the whole time and we just hadn`t seen her! We were so excited.

After church Elder Valdez interviewed Pablo, Tatiana, Cinthia and Diego for baptism. We were confident Diego, Pablo and Tatiana wouldn´t have problems but we
 weren´t so sure about Cintha. As we said a companionship prayer during the interview, we were really able to focus on the purpose of her baptism and remember that Heavenly Father will accomplish His purposes. I know how much Cinthia needs baptism, the gift of the Holy Ghost, and the influence of the church and if it is His will she will be able to be baptized. We received a call after the interviews that she passed and that she wants to be baptized! We were so excited and couldn´t believe what a miracle it was that she came to church and had a change of heart.

Our day continued with more miracles as we still needed four more referrals from a member. During lunch one of the members prayed that they would be able to provide us with references and following the prayer he and his wife proceeded to give us names of people in the neighborhood enough to fill our key indicators. I couldn´t believe how much Heavenly Father was taking care of us.

That day we were feeling very blessed but we commented to one another that we only needed one more person in church to achieve 100% of our key indicators. That evening Elder Valdez called to let us know that a person who lives in our area attended church in Lujan and the Hermana´s made a return appointment with her, therefore, we had 5 investigators in church and 100%. We had already been blessed more than we deserved and Heavenly Father still gave us one more blessing. I could not believe it. I am so grateful for the tender mercies of the Lord and for His help this week.

Reunion of my favorite hermanas from the MTC.  Any time we can get together it is wonderful!

The other great miracle of the week was attending the special conference and listening to Elder Holland speak. It was so amazing to hear an apostle of the Lord speak. I felt the spirit so strongly just being in the same room as him. The greatest lesson I took from his talk is that I need to appreciate the gift of my mission. President Holland also talked about how the most important thing they want to express to everyone in the church is personal conversion. He talked about how we can solve our own problems by reading the scriptures and being personally deeply converted. I´m so glad our family is converted and that I can continue to work on my conversion throughout my life.

My goal this month has been to have hope and learn to be patient and positive but it has been coming slowly. This week I have been able to see more of a change and Elder Holland´s talk amplified my dedication to love this area, the people, the language and the opportunity I have to be here (the bad with good). As he read D&C 88:33 about rejecting a gift I really had to evaluate how I have been responding to my situation. This is a gift I have been given to be a missionary and I need to appreciate it all. If I reject this gift of the mission I am also rejecting my Father in Heaven. I had to go home and do some repenting. I still have a long way to go but my goal is to appreciate every moment I am given and lose myself in the work. His comments about having an eye single to the glory of God really hit home as well. I have a lot to improve upon in being more dedicated in my heart and mind and it might come slowly but my greatest desire is to be the missionary/person Heavenly Father wants me to be.

I am excited for this week and for the changes with our investigators as well as in myself. I know I will continue to change for the better which will help my investigators to progress as well. Each day is getting better and better and I know I couldn´t do it without the help of my Heavenly Father. He really is changing my heart and helping me to do things I can´t do on my own and I am so grateful.

The food is okay. There really are like no vegetables or anything healthy. Basically it´s rice or noodles with fried chicken and the same seasonings every day. We also have empanadas from a member on planning day and a few members who have a little more money give us pasta or milanesa. I have had "salad" twice which consists tomatoes and onions or eggs with oil. All of the food is pretty oily and fatty. They also feed us lots of soda because we can´t drink the water. (We´re not allowed to have Coke though, weird). I try to eat lots of fruit on my own. I also eat cereal and bread with "peanut butter" at home. Everything is pretty expensive to buy and we have to pay a lot for travel which is different than the states. We also have to buy things for investigators, which I´m not used to, like their travel to church etc. I think I´m doing okay with money but I have to continue to budget better. Hermana Suarez likes to buy treats during the day, and it´s really tempting to buy some with her, but I don´t need the calories or to spend the money.

I really do hand wash all my clothes. The language is coming slowly I think. I still have a really hard time understanding and I feel pretty stupid most of the time, but it´s coming. Hermana Suarez and I are getting along pretty well. There are some things which are difficult for me but Heavenly Father is really helping me to be more easy going. I´m really being blessed to get along pretty well though.

I think that is about all this week! There´s so much I still want to say, but my time is almost up. I LOVE YOU ALL SOO MUCH! I pray for you every day like 10 thousand times lol! LOVE YOU!

Love,

Hermana Millet

Familia,

Hola! How are you all!? Thank you so much for your letters and emails! They are wonderful! Mom, I love your idea of sending your emails through dearelder as well. That way I can go back and read them again later. Today we had to make a trip to the mission offices (2 hours by collectivo (bus) and train) so our p-day is pretty much gone and we´ve done nothing. It´s a little frustrating but
 I´m learning to go with the flow and not expect much time to do anything on p-days. I have a few letters written but I doubt I will be able to make it to the post office today to send them. Hopefully next week. They´ll be pretty old by then but oh well, lol. I was able to get your dearelder letters when I went into the offices which was nice. I have one from Mom, one from Nicole and one from Aunt Nancy. It was great to read through them. Thank you so much for all of your wonderful stories and words of advice.

I am doing better day by day here in Argentina. It isn´t coming at lightning speed but I am slowly becoming adjusted to the area and the language and culture etc. I am sooo grateful for all of your prayers in my behalf. I can feel the power of your support and I am so incredibly grateful. I can´t even express what a comfort it is to me to know I have you all behind me. I pray for you all as well every day and I hope you can feel the blessings for your support for me.

I am continuing to work on listening intently to the members and people when they speak. For some reason I have a much more difficult time understanding than other people. It can be really difficult for me to stay focused when they are talking with Hermana Suarez but I am continuing to pray for the gift of understanding.

President Carter wrote some great words in The Sol (his weekly newsletter to the missionaries) this week which were a great comfort to me. It is so nice to know that he still has confidence in me even though I haven´t been as strong as I wish I was. It is always comforting to know that I am not the only one who has or who will go through struggles and that eventually I will make it through this trial.

Each day is getting better and better as I get adjusted to the culture, language, mission etc. I am not to the point where I can find joy in the journey. I have not come to feel the complete love that I hope to have for the people and the area yet here but little by little it is developing.

We are working with some great investigators right now who will hopefully be baptized in the coming weeks. Baptisms happen so much faster here than I am used to! I know we can prepare them to be ready by their dates; it will just take a lot of work and planning.

Diego and Cinthia are two siblings whose father was baptized within this last year. Cinthia is 15 and Diego is 14. They are wonderful! They live with their older siblings, who have a great influence over them, which isn´t always a good one, but they are sweet kids. Diego is very excited about the gospel and learning. He has already talked about going on a mission and his future plans in the church. Cinthia has a few more concerns, doubts and questions. Their mother recently passed away and that has been really hard on her. She feels right now that being baptized will somehow be dishonoring her mother because her mom was able to be at her last baptism. Her real need is to read the Book of Mormon and ask if it´s true. We talked to her about eternal marriages this week and she was really excited about that. She didn´t come to church this week but with continued faith I am confident she will be able to receive an answer and know what to do.

The other family we are working heavily with is a part member family. The mom, Clara, is baptized but inactive. None of her children are baptized. We have been teaching the whole family, especially her two oldest children, Tatiana and Pablo who are old enough to be baptized. Tatiana has a date right now but Pablo does not. Tatiana came to church this last week but we weren´t able to talk Clara into coming with us. We really want to emphasize with her the importance of making this transition as a family. We really don´t want Tatiana to be baptized just to become inactive. We want their whole family to be able to come to church and enjoy the blessings of living the gospel. Our goal for them this week is to begin making small changes as a family in preparation to attend church together this week.

In my personal study this week I have been reading in 1 Nephi. My reading of the Book of Mormon is coming slowly because I usually only have time for about one chapter but I am loving what I study each day! One of my favorite scriptures from this week is from 1 Nephi 7:12. It tells us that the Lord is able to do all things for us if we exercise faith in him. I know this to be true and I am really working on having that faith to be worthy of His help. Another scripture which touched me (I don´t have the reference with me), but similarly it says that according to our faith the Lord can give us strength to burst our bands. I want to have the faith to be able to burst the bands that I have in regards to learning the language and fully giving my heart and loving the people I am with.

This week we have a super exciting conference on Saturday with President Holland! It is in Ramos Mejia (the area of our mission offices) with our mission and three other missions as well as the missionaries from the MTC here. I am so excited! It´s going to be great. Can President Holland speak Spanish?! I don´t even know.

A few other fun facts from the week:

I saw my first cockroach in our apartment. It was high up on the wall where we couldn´t reach and I don´t know where it went after that. I´m not too excited to see another one closer.

I have now hand washed my clothes for the first time. We have to be constantly in the process of washing clothes because we only have room to dry a few at a time.  Let´s just say, I´m super grateful for washing machines.

Every night I come home and think I´ve never been so exhausted. On Wednesday, however, I think I hit an all time high. Out of the 10 hours that we were out of our apartment working I´m pretty sure at least 6 of them were spent walking. We had a 1 hour lunch in a member's home and a few other lessons that day where we were able to sit, but the rest of the day was walking. I wish I had a pedometer to know how many miles it was! My feet are still recovering.

It is a tradition here that you have to ¨kiss cheeks¨ (I
 don´t know what the official name is) with every female in a room or yard when you enter. Then you have to do it again when you leave, even if you were only there for just 2 minutes. I´ve never kissed so many people in my life!

There are squished frogs in the road everywhere. I did spot a live one the other day in the dark but mostly I´ve just seen dead ones.

There are fruit and veggie stands everywhere along the streets. Have I been fed fruits or vegetables once in a meal? Never. I had no idea I loved vegetables so much until now.

I bought a 50 peso jar of peanut butter in the store last week. It isn´t real peanut butter.

Any time I hear an American song or see an American brand, my heart pitter patters. I love America.

Thank you so much again for all of your love and support! You are wonderful! I hope you are all doing well. You are in my prayers constantly.

Love Hermana Jennifer Millet

Hi family!

This week has been one of the hardest weeks of my life but I have found great comfort in the scriptures and understanding Heavenly Father´s plan for me. I have started the Book of Mormon again this transfer and I found a scripture in 1 Nephi 1:20 that really helped me. It talks about how Heavenly Father gives us tender mercies which make us mighty enough to deliver ourselves from bondage. For me, this was a great reminder of all of the little blessings He is giving me every day and that through using the atonement I can be strengthened to overcome my trials.

I then found great knowledge in the next chapter. Lehi is called to take his family away from their home into the desert. Laman and Lemuel begin murmuring because it is hard. They have left their home, their friends, and everything they know to travel to an unknown place. I can relate with Laman and Lemuel in this situation. I am here in a country with customs and a language completely foreign to me and it is hard. It is really easy to murmur in these kinds of situations.

But Nephi gives a better example of what else I can do. This chapter tells of how Nephi wanted to know the mysteries of God and so he cried unto the Lord. I like to think it was difficult for him as well. He was struggling and he cried unto the Lord for comfort. The Lord did give him comfort and he softened his heart so that he could understand and accept his circumstances and trust in Heavenly Father.

This past week I have found myself being more like Laman and Lemuel. I have murmured and complained in my head and made the situation more difficult. I want to choose to be more like Nephi and ask for Heavenly Father´s help to change my heart. I have already seen evidence of his help this week as I go through discouraging and frustrating events; He has helped me to get over my anger or my sadness more quickly than I know I could on my own. He is helping to fill my heart with love and charity that I don´t have yet myself.

Each month of my mission I have decided to fast and work toward one of my mission goals. This month I decided I need to work on the Christ like attribute of hope. I need to develop optimism, patience, gratitude and positivity in all situations.

I have faith that in the long run my experience in Lujan will be for my good and that I can help others while I am here but I want to develop a more positive outlook with patience and optimism so that I enjoy the work and can find peace. I have already seen the Lord´s help this week and I know He can continue to bless me as I study and work to develop a better attitude.

Things have been really really hard this week. I was able to go to an Hermanas Conference on Thursday. It was wonderful. It was an answer to my prayers this week. I was really struggling here after a few days and being able to talk to other Hermanas (in English) was so comforting. I was able to learn that I am not the only one having doubts and fears and discouragement.  We all basically want to go home.  The culture is so different and being with native companions is really hard and the apartments are not very nice. All of the Hermanas are experiencing these emotions.  It was so nice to be able to talk about all of these things and know I'm not alone and we can get through it together. Just being able to talk about it with others who relate was so wonderful.  I don´t want to scare you too much so don´t worry about me but your continued prayers are wonderful. I think your fast has already helped because I started feeling a little better yesterday.

On the way back to Lujan I was also able to talk with Hermana Bangeter, a sister from Utah. I had no idea how difficult the language and culture barrier would be with a native companion and how much I would treasure being able to speak with English speakers from my own country. Hermana Bangeter is wonderful!

I have never felt more alone than I do here where I can´t express myself or understand others. Many times in conversations I am in my own world and when Hermana Suarez and I are together we don´t talk a lot either. I am working on listening more intently though so all the noise coming out of their mouths will slowly mean something.

I am slowly learning the area, the investigators and the way the work is handled here. The way we teach, find, plan etc. is completely different than I was accustomed to in California and I am working to adapt to this new environment. We have some great investigators and members that are helping along the way.

Our two investigators with plans to be baptized and confirmed this month are Cintia and Diego. They are 15 and 14 years old and their father was recently baptized. I was able to meet Cintia at a YW activity on Saturday and both she and Diego came to church Sunday. They are great kids and I am excited to continue getting to know them and teaching them.

We also have a few other investigators who we are working with but were not able to make it to church on Sunday. Hopefully we will be able to continue to help them.

The language is slowly coming. I am trying to listen intently to every conversation, even when it is easier to zone out. I think I am understanding a little more each day. I am hoping to make language study a greater priority during our day so that I can also study the grammar and vocabulary I need, because I know that is a great way in which I learn.

Hermana Suarez is great. There are many things which she does a lot differently than I might but I am really working on being teachable and accept her style. Sometimes it is hard because I felt so capable in my last area and here I feel very much like a junior companion who is being trained and doesn´t have much to contribute but I know I can learn from Hermana Suarez if I am willing to be humble.

On Friday it rained all day here. I was happy to find out that my boots and raincoat worked pretty well. Walking in all the mud was kind of difficult but I stayed relatively warm and dry.

We walk A LOT! I am learning to adjust though and so are my feet. I´ve got some pretty blisters and bruises but hopefully they will adjust. I pretty much always feel dirty with all the dust and sunscreen (I got burnt my first day out) and bug spray (apparently the mosquito bites stay as scars for the rest of your life here) and sweat haha. I´m learning pretty quickly not to care at all about what I look like.

I´m not quite sure what to tell you about all of the day to day activities. We leave the apartment by 10 and then do a lot of walking to investigators and different people. I am still trying to get to know them all.

Living conditions: compared to the members we live in a mansion. I have never seen such poverty. They live in tiny little shacks built of cheap bricks or this metal stuff. They burn the garbage in the street and it´s just crazy. My apartment is...okay. It stinks really bad and has mold and is kind of dirty but it´s not awful. There isn´t really anywhere to put my stuff so a lot of it is still in my suitcases in the kitchen and I have to search for it in the mornings. I am going to try to buy some cleaning things and clean up a bit today so it will be better. It really isn´t too bad though so I shouldn´t complain. It is worse than anything I´ve ever lived in before though.

The stray dogs are super sad. They are really cute but I don´t ever pet them or touch them because they are not as nice and they are really sick and dirty. It makes me really sad.

I didn´t know Sarah was going on a mission!!! That's awesome! Tell her congratulations!  Tell Mary Isom congrats and I love her.

I appreciate everything you do for me! Your letters are the highlight of my week. I love you all soo much and am so grateful for your prayers and love. Sorry if this email sounded negative. As I said, I´m still working on being positive.

Thank you so much for everything! I love you!

Love, Jen

PS There are fireflies here at night which are really cool.