Family,

This week I have continued to learn about faith. It is amazing how each month as I have tried to focus on an attribute of Christ sometimes I don't even know what I need to learn in that month but as I am open to the whisperings of the spirit I find that is exactly what I need that month.

This week I set out to have faith that we could complete our indicators by Thursday and find new investigators. Each day I found myself getting more and more stressed. Wednesday night I wrote in my journal that I didn't know what more I could do. I was beginning to get frustrated with my Heavenly Father as I felt that I was working as hard as I could and wasn't seeing the fruit of my labor.

Jennifer with her companion Hermana Castellanos

By Thursday we still hadn't found any new investigators and the stress was beginning to strain on our companionship. We had a bit of a revelation during weekly planning and companionship inventory and we discussed our unity and what was holding us back. We realized we had both been feeling some type of obligatory faith. We felt that to have faith we had to be worried or the work needed to be difficult. As we talked, however, we came to understand that real faith is trust in God's plan and that when we trust in him we don't have to be stressed or worried as long as we are doing all we can. That afternoon we continued to work with all diligence but still only found 2 new investigators.

That night, however, my entry in my journal was much different. Instead of being frustrated I had peace. I knew that we had done all we could do and that if I was patient the blessings would come in the Lord's time. Although we still had 6 new investigators to find, my stress level was much lower than the night before because I had finally figured out what real faith is.

The next day after our special leadership training we had about three hours to work. We set out full of faith and determination and we were blessed with miracles. We found two families and two other individuals. One of the families, a mom and her 5 children (3 of which are of age to be baptized) accepted a baptismal date. We taught about families, the temple, and baptism. It was one of the most beautiful lessons of my mission.  Unfortunately, they already had plans to go out of town and didn't make it to church but I am going to continue to have faith that we can teach to their needs and help them progress toward baptism.

Rolando's Baptism

 Another amazing blessing this week was the baptism of Rolando. It was beautiful! We had so much support from the members that there were not enough chairs! Rolando bore a sweet testimony after the ordinance and was grinning from ear to ear. The next day we talked to his son Luciano who told us he could see a change in his dad. Our next step is to work with the family of Rolando so they can all enjoy the blessing of finding the gospel. Rolando is probably the most prepared investigators I've ever seen spiritually and I am so grateful for the opportunity to be a part of his conversion.

My biggest concern at this point is getting investigators to sacrament meeting. My goal this week is to really focus in every single lesson on the Sabbath day and going to church. We have some wonderful prospects for baptism this month and I am determined to achieve our goal of three baptisms. I know the Lord is preparing people and I need to do my part to help them repent and have a desire to attend church.  I also want to be an example for the Hermanas in the mission. As HLE I know we have a great responsibility but are also blessed to be able to accomplish what we need to according to our diligence and obedience.

As I mentioned earlier, this week we had a special leadership training. President was super strict with the zone leaders. He's great but also super scary lol. The mission isn't doing super great with numbers this past month or so. Apparently, there are also missionaries that are super disobedient as well and they are trying to stop all these problems now. It is interesting to be in these meetings and hear a little more about what goes on in the mission world. He also talked to us hermanas separately and got after us as well, but in a much kinder manner. Our percentage as leaders is lower than the rest of the mission and the hermanas as a whole. As leaders we need to be an example. With great power comes great responsibility. (Name that movie! Easy, I know.) It's a lot of responsibility but I really want to improve as well.

Today we went to Ramos again to be trained so that we can train other missionaries this Thursday in a special training in Ramos all day. We'll be waking up at 3:00 to be in Ramos at 7:00 and be training all day and get back home probably right in time around 8:30 or 9:00. It's going to be a long day but also really fun and a great opportunity to learn.

Today we had to practice teaching a principle in front of President, the assistants, some of the zone leaders, as well as a few of basically all the best missionaries in the mission who have extended for another few weeks. I was super duper nervous and we didn't do great but I learned a lot. I think this calling as HLE is more for me to learn than anything and I'm super grateful.

Don't know if you can really tell how dirty I am, but I just wanted to
 show off how hard core we are. 

Another fun thing we are doing right now is reading the Book of Mormon as a mission. I have decided to do it in Spanish! I usually do my personal study in English so I can learn more and feel the spirit more strongly but I decided it is time to challenge myself a little more with the language and I want to read the whole BOM in Spanish during my mission. It takes a little more time and I don't understand it all quite as well but so far I am loving the experience. I think Hermana Carter posted the schedule on the blog if you want to do it with me (in English of course)! You're only a week behind if you want to. :) I would challenge all who follow my blog to read it with me.  The mission blog address is buenosaireswest.blogspot.com.

That's all for now. I love you all sooo much! Sorry this email was a little weird. I'm a little distracted and out of the routine today.

I LOVE YOU!

Sincerely,

your favorite Shankee (They call all the American's Yankees but with the accent it is pronounced Shankee.)

Hermana Millet

Familia,

Hello everyone! I love you sooo much! I hope you enjoy all the pictures I have to send this week. It's been awesome!

This was going to be your first clue, but you already figured out where we went last week on our P day.

Last Monday we went to the Lujan zoo.  It was so awesome!!  It cost 200 pesos to get in but since an Elder here can get 10 pesos for 1 dollar it was basically 20 bucks.  And it doesn't cost anything extra to touch all the animals! AWESOME!!!

This is my "Ah, I'm touching a tiger" face!

Oh hey there tiger. What's up?  I'm only three feet away from your face! 

Parrots...Good thing I have two arms.

It's a lion!  As if petting a tiger wasn't enough.

Sister Castellanos and I together with Leo.

Thanks again for all of your emails and love and support and prayers. This week Hermana Castellanos will appreciate your prayers so that we can get all of our work done by Thursday. On Friday we have a leadership meeting all day in Ramos and on Saturday we have the baptism of Rolando!!! Therefore, we need to work quickly and efficiently to get all of our indicators as well as take care of our other two baptisms for the following week and find new fechas (baptismal dates).

Our baptisms coming up are: Rolando (this Saturday)
Bruno (the 1st of Feb.)
Walter (the 1st of Feb.)

Our awesome district.

Other random exciting news:

The other day we were walking through the field to get to Amaghino (one of our areas) and we heard a noise in the bushes. We looked over and there was a snake moving around. Not just a little garden snake though, it was HUGE! Literally the size of my leg. Needless to say we are extra observant when we walk through the field from now on.

The snake was THIS  big!

We got bicis! (bikes). They were delivered on Saturday (they are kind of terrible and need to be repaired) but now we don't have to walk 5,000 miles to church and district meeting. The other problem is we don't have room in our pench to store them but luckily we have nice members who live relatively close by. We haven't used them yet but we're excited.

It has been insanely hot again. But we're working through it. I'm kind of fried right now, especially the back of my neck, but we're surviving!

Do you like our tan lines?

On Friday we had a Noche de Hogar (family home evening) in the church. It was wonderful. The missionaries shared our testimonies about the Book of Mormon and then we did karaoke. All of the songs were in Spanish and I didn`t know any of them but Hermana C. and I sang anyway. It was great fun.

We have a new baptismal date for the 1st of February. He is the nephew of a member and was in church last week. We talked to him, set up a lesson and he wants to be baptized! He is 11 years old. His mom is great too but she is juntado (living with someone) and can't be baptized till she gets divorced and then married again. She fully supports his baptism though and he has the support of his aunt and uncle! YAY!

As you already now know from the Buenos Aires West mission blog I have been called as an Hermana Leader Educator (HLE). I am kind of overwhelmed and super humbled because I know there are so many other sisters with more experience than I have but I'm also super grateful for the opportunity to learn and love and serve the Hermanas. I am praying to be an example as a missionary, in our area, and to help the hermanas feel our love. There isn't a great feeling about the HLE right now and a lot of the sisters aren't super excited for us to come because they don't want to be corrected. In Ventura the feeling was totally different and we all loved the HLE. I really want to help develop that kind of attitude here. So far my goal is just to let them know I love them and am here to help them with whatever they need.

The Hermanas of Lujan.

I think that's all the random fun stuff. Now here is the spiritual side. It has been an awesome week and I have learned and grown personally a lot! Here is the excerpt from my letter to the President:

This month I have been grown dramatically in my understanding of faith. In the beginning of my mission I felt that I had faith. I knew that Jesus Christ was my Savior and that I could be saved through His atonement but I have begun a great journey in developing greater faith to work miracles this month.

This week I have seen evidence of when my faith is strong the results that can happen and when I do not exercise all of my faith how I cannot be blessed.

Hermana Castellanos and I prayed with all our hearts this week in hopes that we would be able to stay together as companions and we are so blessed to have this opportunity to work together once again. I am also humbled and grateful for the opportunity to serve as an HLE. I know that I have so much to learn and improve myself, and that it will take a lot of work to earn the love and respect of our hermanas but I am grateful for the opportunity to grow and develop greater love for them. I am also grateful that Hermana Castellanos and I have the opportunity to serve together. The unity of our calling has already brought so much more strength and unity to our companionship and I look forward to growing together as we focus on serving the hermanas under our care and strive to be an example in our own area. It is a great responsibility but also a great blessing.

This week we struggled a little more than usual to achieve our indicators. On Monday and Tuesday we felt that our plans were almost perfect. We had a balance of lessons with members and investigators, plans to find news investigators and contact referrals but everything seemed to fall through. We were somewhat discouraged but determined to improve. I have learned through other experiences throughout the week, however, that what we were lacking in our plans was the faith. We were pleased with our plans and our efforts but hadn't taken the time to really rely upon the Lord and ask Him what He wanted us to do. I am learning that true faith requires significant effort and work mentally, physically and spiritually.

On Thursday we had an experience that has changed the course of my mission and quite possibly my life. I will not try to describe the details as it was an event extremely sacred and one that cannot be explained with words, but it was experience in which I learned what it really means to save a soul.

Our investigator Rolando was hanging on the balance of choosing to accept the truth and the promptings of the spirit or listen to Satan. As we talked with him in our lesson we fought like I have never fought before to save his soul. We were extremely bold in inviting him to repent but we were filled with the love of Christ. Throughout the lesson I prayed more fervently than I have ever prayed before and I could feel the power of the spirit physically in every ounce of my being and surrounding the ground in which we sat. After we testified of the truthfulness of the gospel and his need for baptism he decided to say a prayer and ask if baptism was the right decision. Afterward he put his face in his hands and just cried. Hermana Castellanos and I cried with him as we felt the spirit overwhelm us all that he finally knew without a doubt and had accepted the truth.

This experience was incredibly beautiful and life changing. We saw Rolando experience, within the space of an hour, the change of heart that all worthy converts must feel. His entire countenance changed. After we left the lesson Hermana Castellanos and I cried together as we said a prayer of gratitude for this miracle in the life of Rolando. Yesterday he had his interview for his baptism and the smile on his face as we walked out of the room was absolutely magnificent.

My testimony has grown significantly from this experience. For the first time I realized what it means to save a soul through baptism. I realized what real faith, real charity, real humility is. We were truly the instruments of the Lord and I will forever be grateful that we were able to witness the miracle of repentance.

I love you all sooo much! Thank you for your prayers and support! Please let me know who needs my prayers. I am anxiously awaiting the package from Zobells! Hooray!

I'm so glad we are a forever family!

Love you!

Hermana Millet

Family!!!!

Guess what I did today! I cut my hair for the first time in almost 7 months! I hope the lady did a decent job. I certainly feels a lot better. We are also going to have another adventure today with pictures to come next week since it might be our last week in Lujan. Anyone who can guess what it will be gets a prize! (Eric Schwaar is excluded from the guessing game).

Also, before I start in on all the spiritual stuff, guess what happened Tuesday in Ramos!!!! It rained like crazy in the morning and for part of the afternoon, we still had to go out and work though so out the door we walked. As we got to the area we needed to visit the streets were like a river, literally. You would't believe it if you saw it. No lie, we were walking with water up to our knees. The roads were blocked off for cars and colectivos (buses) but there we were, two hermanas, wading through the streets. I'm pretty sure it was the closest I will get to swimming in my mission. It was insane but also wonderful!

Anyway, I think that's all for the fun stuff...here's the missionary part:

This week I am so full of gratitude for the blessings and miracles we have had in our area with our investigators. Each night I have gone to bed thinking that I can't be more blessed. I have really felt the hand of the Lord this week to know that He is pleased with our efforts and is helping us to succeed. I had kind of lost that feeling for a while and was searching for how to improve to feel His acceptance of our efforts. I ended this week still knowing that we have a lot to improve upon but also knowing that the hand of the Lord has been in our work.

As I mentioned last week, we weren't able to work in our area on Monday and Tuesday. It is a goal in the mission to finish our weekly indicators by Friday and therefore is always our goal as well. This week we were blessed with so many miracles and were able to do so in just 3 days! It was amazing!

We have two investigators right now that we are working extremely hard to qualify for baptism this month.

Justina is 76 years old and has some type of dementia or Alzheimer's. She reads the Book of Mormon every night but can't remember what she read the next day and we have to remind her about her baptismal date every visit. On some days she is as sweet as can be and so grateful for our help and teachings. On other days she doesn't want to talk to us and continues to insist that she is Catolico Pastolical Romano.

I have really been searching the direction of the Lord to know His will for her. On Wednesday we had her pre-interview and it went wonderfully. She answered each question so well! I was ecstatic and felt that this was the answer from the Lord that she is ready for baptism despite the difficulties with her mind. That evening we called President Carter to obtain permission to baptize her with only 2 attendances in Sacrament Meeting due to extenuating circumstances the week before. He didn't answer and the next day we also couldn't get a hold of the assistants. The zone leaders told us to go ahead with her interview anyway, however, when the district leader and us showed up at her house she didn't want to talk to us and her grandson told us she wasn't home. This train of events was another answer to my prayers that the Lord does want Justina to be baptized but that she needs to wait a little longer. I have been so grateful for these little answers to prayers that have helped us to know what is best for our investigators.

Our other investigator is Rolando. He is about 60 years old and his wife is schizophrenic. He is amazing and has come to church twice on his own. He is very pensive and takes time to meditate before and after prayers and when we asks questions. He is extremely humble and willing to change. His greatest trial right now is that he doesn't feel prepared to be baptized. He heard about our goal for every family to read the BOM in 6 months and he wants to read the Book of Mormon before being baptized. He even bought glasses just so he can see to read. We are continuing to work with him to help him feel prepared. We know he is one of the most worthy converts we have seen but we need to help him gain a testimony of baptism and his need for it now.

We were extremely disappointed on Sunday when we weren't able to find either of these investigators Sunday morning for church. We are continuing to work to improve our efforts during the week so that we can have investigators in church on Sundays.

We were rewarded, however, when Pascual (our convert from November) brought four of his grandchildren to church with him on Sunday. Pablo and Tatiana were baptized with Pascual in November and we haven't been able to get either of them to church since their baptism. Bruno is Pascual's other grandson who has a baptismal date in three weeks and is progressing wonderfully! It was so great to see them all walk into the church together as a family.

I am continuing to learn and grow to develop more faith and humility. Hermana Castellanos talked about unity in our companionship inventory and how we can both be more humble and work together to have more unity and success in our area. On Wednesday evening she was a little upset with me and I wasn't sure why. She didn't want to talk about it that night and so we waited until Thursday during comp inventory. It was a good learning experience for me to discover some of my weaknesses and I am trying to improve to be a better companion. We have been so blessed that our first issue as a companionship was in our last week and it was really quite small and was resolved quickly. We are hoping and praying every night that we will stay together this transfer but we'll see what happens. I am nervous for transfers this week but am ready and willing to accept whatever the Lord has in store for me because I know it is what I need.

Also, other random note. After meals we don't usually have dessert but when we do it is plain Jell-O or fruit cocktail or another weird gelatin like thing called flan. I miss our brownies lol. :(

I LOVE YOU ALL SOOOOOOOOOO MUCH! Thank you for the pictures and letters and prayers. You are the best. I pray for you every day! Sorry if I don't answer your questions each week. Please know I love reading your letters even if I don't respond very well.

Also, the family we found a few weeks ago isn't exactly progressing but I still have hope one day. Finally, Carl from Solvang got baptized!!!! AH!!!!

That's all folks!

Love, your favorite Lujanite, Hermana Millet

Happy New Year's

Family,

This week I am writing extra early because we have to be in Ramos Mejia at 3:00 this afternoon, which means our p-day is basically non-existent. We are going there because Hermana Carter asked Hermana Castellanos to speak at EFY on Tuesday. I'll be on exchanges with some Hermanas in Ramos.

Hermana Millet and Hermana Castellanos on New Year's Eve

This week we had a few adventures as well as some miracles.

On Friday we traveled to Open Door (a town that is technically a part of our area about 20 minutes away in car) with President Peralta (who is absolutely amazing btw) and our investigators Juana and Miguel to get papers for them so they can get married and then baptized (Juana asap and Miguel...eventually). We had to go to a hospital with crazy people and addicts and President didn't want us getting out of the car because they would bother us so we sat in the car with the doors locked while these crazy men walked by looking in the windows and asking for money. It was kind of hilarious and the scene was perfect for a scary movie with all these old buildings and beautiful trees and a bunch of crazy people walking around like zombies. The best part was that they got their papers and President is going to help pay to get the others they need so hopefully this week they can finally have a date for their wedding! Hooray!

Feliz Cumplianos Hermana Castellano

I have been enjoying reading messages from the President and reflecting on what I need to improve personally and what Hermana Castellanos and I can do to improve as a companionship. I really think we can see miracles in this area together next transfer as we apply what we are learning from his counsel and grow in unity and faith.

In doing some self reflecting I have found areas in which I need to improve, especially in humility. In some ways it is difficult to realize that I still have so much to improve upon but my greatest desire is to become what the Lord expects me to be and I know I can only accomplish this with increased humility.

Hermana Castellanos and I identified two types of humility this week: humility before the Lord (trusting in Him, accepting his will and doing the work His way) and humility with others (comparing ourselves to other missionaries, judging or criticizing others etc.) This month I really want to focus on my humility before the Lord and having the faith to work in his way and work the miracles that he wants for this area. I also realized, however, that I have slowly developed pride within our companionship. Hermana Castellanos is an amazing missionary and we are like sisters but at times I feel inadequate with a companion whom the members and investigators love so much, who can communicate and understand so easily, who has responsibility within the mission as an HLE etc. It was hard to face the fact that I had developed this pride but I am working hard to rid myself of these feelings of Satan and praying for the help of the Lord to truly love her for all of these wonderful qualities that help our companionship and which make her the Hermana that I love and realize my own purpose and value right now in the mission.

This week we witnessed one great miracle with our investigator, Bruno. He is the grandson on Pascual, who was baptized in November. As we taught Pascual, Bruno was occasionally present and over the past few weeks we have focused more on teaching Bruno. He is only 9 years old but he has such a sweet respectful demeanor and really has a desire to follow Jesus Christ and learn of his gospel. He read the introduction and the testimonies of the 8 and 3 witnesses after we gave him the Book of Mormon and is reading every night on his own. We have been trying to talk to his mother for weeks but she is unavailable for some reason or another in each of our lessons.

In my fast yesterday I prayed that we might be able to talk to her and receive her permission to continue teaching and preparing Bruno for baptism. We began our fast Saturday after lunch and that evening, only 4 or 5 hours after beginning the fast, we happened to pass by their home and she was outside. We were able to talk to her and her reaction was perfect! She didn't give us permission right away but wanted to know what the baptism was like, what we believe etc. She was exactly the way I would like a mother to be, concerned about her son and his welfare. She did give her permission and we are now working to prepare him for his baptism!

Our other investigators are also progressing along well. We are continuing to search for new families to teach as well and take care of the fechas that we have and really address each of their needs so they are truly converted. This week we still only reached 60% of our goals but I am learning each week and we are trying to adapt our methods to have more progressing investigators and investigators in sacrament meeting. I know as I develop the faith and work obediently and diligently we can have 100%.

We had some cooler weather this week after a huge rainstorm in the night. It was soooo lovely! We weren't dying of sweat all day and at night I even used a blanket. It was absolutely blissful.

On Wednesday we had exchanges with the Hermanas in Lujan 1. I went to their area and Herman Guillen was here in our area. It was a good day but the people here in Argentina party until 4-6 in the morning on New Year's Eve and sleep literally all day on the 1st so there was basically no one in the streets. Hermana Castellanos and Hermana Guillen were almost robbed here in our area! A man jumped off a motorcycle (there were 3 people on the bike because everyone here uses motos and pile tons of people on them) and asked them for all their things. They were backed up into a door and no one was in the streets. They told him they were missionaries and didn't have anything and eventually he left without taking anything or hurting them. MIRACLE! I'm now a little more cautious in our area. I've never felt scared here but I need to be more aware. Exchanges were good and it was fun to learn a new area and meet new investigators.

Hermana Leon is in our district and is great.  Things went pretty well with her during exchanges. She has an awesome testimony and really helped me see the importance of bringing the spirit to all our lessons.

New Year's Eve Dinner.

...Life other than that is pretty much normal. Hermana Castellanos and I are praying to stay together for transfers next week and we are continuing to work to achieve our goal of 2 baptisms this month.

I love you all sooo much! Thank you for your letters and love and support and prayers! You're the bestest family and friends an hermana could ask for! Have a wonderful week!

Love,

Hermana Millet