Chauo:

Today we had a leadership meeting in Ramos. President basically told us that as leaders we need to set a better example. The mission was way below its potential for baptisms this month and as leaders we weren't a whole lot better, especially as HLE.

Some of the HLE's with our favorite meal:  pizzs and empanadas.  MMMMM!

I know there is a lot that I can and should improve upon to have success as a missionary. We can and should achieve at least the standard of excellence as leaders every month. Each month my goal has been to be an example though my actions, character and especially indicators and baptisms but this month I plan on working more diligently to have progressing investigators. We consistently achieve our 60% by Friday but we are failing to have progressing investigators and fechas: the indicators that matter most. If we teach lessons throughout the week but don't have progressing investigators, what does all of our work matter? We are not accomplishing our purpose to really bring people to Christ. This month I plan to focus on this with whatever companion I have.

The Hermanas of Lujan.

We had divisions with the Hermanas of Lujan 1C this past week. I went to their area to work with Hermana Guillen. She is from Mexico and is finishing her 2nd transfer in the mission. She is wonderful! She is one of the most humble, spiritually powerful missionaries I have met. I went there to help strengthen her but the whole time she was telling me what a great missionary I was and building me up. She is seriously an amazing example for me and I hope someday we can be companions.

Bruno's Baptism with Pascual, his Grandpa.

Bruno with his family.

On Sunday we were able to have the baptism of Bruno (the grandson of Pascual). All week things were a little crazy trying to work with President so he could be confirmed and we could count the baptism for this month.  We were also trying to work with Miriam, his mom, who doesn't like to leave her house to talk to us so we were passing notes like teenagers lol. We tried to work with her to have the baptism on Saturday so that he could be confirmed on Sunday. She wanted it on Sunday and wouldn't budge. It was important for us to have her attend the baptism so we had it after sacrament meeting on Sunday.

The whole gang at the baptism.

It was a great service and some wonderful members stayed after church until after 2:00 (I'm sure they were starving) to show their support. We were even able to have some of the primary children perform a musical number for him. His mom loved the service and was able to talk with President Peralta a little about baptism and the church. Later that night she sat with us in a family home evening as well. She isn't interested in being baptized right now (and is juntado) but as we continue to work with her and show her how the gospel can bless her family I believe she will continue to feel the spirit and have a desire to be baptized.

Ivana, our awesome neighbor, went to church last Sunday and loved it but couldn't talk with us all week. We were getting worried that she would lose her desire to be baptized or continue going to church but on Friday she invited us to have lunch with her Saturday and have a lesson afterwards. The food was delicious and she is as ready as ever for baptism. She practically taught the lesson as she explained how important repentance is and that baptism is the beginning of a new life not just a step to complete. She was also talking about how in the future her husband will accept the gospel. Unfortunately, Sunday morning her two boys got sick and her husband had to work so she couldn't go to church but she is definitely going to get baptized this month and be an amazing member.

Our amazing next door neighbor Ivana and her sons Matias and Bautista.
She is AMAZING!

We also found an awesome family this last week. We first taught Milton (11) in the house of his aunt. She wasn't super receptive but he was super involved in the lesson. We taught the plan of salvation because his sister passed away about 3 months ago. He accepted a baptismal date. Immediately after, we went to his house to get permission from his mom who gave it right away. We then taught her a few days later. She is great as well but isn't ready to make a commitment to go to church or be baptized. We are going to continue working with her, however, and hopefully her other children and they will all eventually be baptized. Milton and his cousin came with us to church on Sunday and liked it. For an 11 year old he is awesome! In sacrament he was asking questions about the bread and water and as he looked through the gospel principles book he started to explain Joseph Smith to his cousin! CAPO!

This is how we pass out Books of Mormon!

On Saturday we went to Lujan 1 to help with a capilla abierta (chapel open house). A missionary couple came with materials to demonstrate and we as hermanas lead short tours (kind of like temple square missionaries) where we talked about Christ, prophets, the restoration, the plan of salvation, families and temples. They then talked about baptism in front of the font with two elders and talked with members about programs of the church. It was actually a lot of fun and I could definitely feel the spirit working in some of the people who came. It was also great practice in teaching simply and powerfully.

For the month of March we have Ivana who is progressing wonderfully and a new family that we are teaching with whom we have set a date with one son and hope to set a date with his mom in the next week. The Lord is blessing us with miracles we just need to put in the diligence to see success. I am a little nervous to find out who my new companion is but I hope to apply all that I have learned with Hermana Castellanos as well as learn from my new companion to have more success here in Lujan.

P-Day activity with our district.

Last P-Day with Hermana Castellanso.

I love you all sooo much! Thank you for your emails and letters and packages, but most of all your thoughts and prayers. I continue to pray for each of you and think about you often. I LOVE YOU!

Love your favorite Lujanite for life,

Hermana Millet

Familia,

Hmm...this week. Interesting.

First of all, with a lot of help from a priesthood blessing, your prayers, ibuprofen, and care, my back is doing much better. Thank you so much for your prayers! I will continue to try to take care of it and let you know if it becomes worse. Sorry for the scare. I was a little worried last week but I think it's just something I'm going to have to continue to watch. I haven't gotten the package from Zobell's yet :( but we have a meeting in Ramos next Monday and so I should be able to get it then. Hooray!!!

Lujan in her dress.  Isn't she adorable!?

Adventures in the mission first:

Monday we learned to follow the spirit. ALWAYS! I was trying not to carry very much because of my back and so I didn't take my regular bag into centro. I had the keys with me and during email time I looked down and thought, 'maybe I should give those to Hermana Castellanos to put in her bag' but was busy writing you and ignored it. Hermana Castellanos also had the impression in the morning to take her set of keys but she didn't think she would need them. Well, guess what happened. When we returned to the pench with all of our groceries we found out we didn't have the keys. We have some awesome neighbors who helped us try to find a solution but the only option ended up calling a locksmith to replace our whole lock and give us new keys. A few hours and 330 pesos later we have decided to make another copy of our key to give to our neighbor and ALWAYS follow the spirit.

On Valentine's Day Hermana Castellanos and I wanted to celebrate, so for language study we wrote valentines and translated them into English and Spanish and then delivered them to some of our members and investigators throughout the day. We also ordered ice cream. YAY for love!

Grido for Valentine's Day! Yummm!

Roberto: Remember the investigator who wanted to change clothes for church. Well we taught him this week and it was an adventure for sure. Remember how I told you the whole town was flooded. Well there is a new river right next to his house. We had our bikes and weren't quite sure how to cross. There is a metal thing (not sure what to call it) like a makeshift bridge. Roberto walked across and carried our bikes (almost dropping mine) and then we made our way across. I kind of felt like the girl from "A Little Princess". Don`t worry, I'm still here. It also turns out he's got a little problema with the Word of Wisdom. He was completely wasted the last time we went to visit him haha. He told us he would be ready for church, however. We went and picked him up and made it to church, but this time after priesthood we went to find him to go to Sunday School and found how he left right after priesthood and no one stopped him! AH! Needless to say, chau Roberto.

And one more. Promise not to laugh. Pinky swear....this week I crashed into a car in the middle of an intersection with my bike. Basically there are no rules to driving in Lujan and no one has the right of way. Well we started to enter the intersection, but saw a truck coming and so we tried to stop. I couldn't stop fast enough and caught the back end of the truck. He was fine and drove away but I have a little road rash. Yeah...

The highlight of my week was an interview with President. He and Sister Carter came on Valentine's Day and before dinner they interviewed a bunch of the missionaries here in Lujan. We have been doing well here in Lujan but I have been feeling a little discouraged with myself and my inadequacies. I really wanted to achieve 100% this week, especially after a message to the missionaries from President about how if we are diligent and obedient we can. I kind of expected him to get after us for our terrible percentage this month, and kind of hoped he would in order to find out how we can improve. He was exactly the opposite, however. So full of love. The first question he asked was why I am having so much success. I told him that I try every day to do the work in the Lord's way and am constantly trying to improve and ask what more I can do. He told me this is what I need to teach the other hermanas. My interview with him was such a great moment to feel his love and confidence in me as well as the love of my Heavenly Father. I know I have a lot to improve but I also know the Lord is pleased as long as I try my best.

This week we had our disappointments with Sacrament Meeting as usual and we are really struggling to find fechas (baptismal dates). On Sunday, however, I chose to focus on the miracles we had rather than on those we didn't.

Some of our favorite kids!  Luana is on the right (her family are members) and the rest are Veronica's kids.

Luana is our mini companion!

One of our fechas, Ivana, happens to be our next door neighbor. On Tuesday she wasn't home for our appointment and we had a hard time contacting her this week. We talked with her on Thursday, however, and discovered that her Grandfather passed away. She was really struggling and during the week was in Buenos Aires with her family. We wrote her a note and slid it under the door on Friday but still weren't able to meet with her. The week before she had promised to go to church with us but we didn't have a lot of hope after not meeting with her all week. On Saturday we asked a member of the ward to send her a text inviting her to church but when she didn't reply we decided to call. She answered the call Saturday night and to our surprise accepted the invitation. In the morning she was ready to go with her two young children as soon as we knocked on the door. She loved Relief Society which talked all about strengthening families. In Gospel Principles she shared her testimony of how she had been praying for a church and when we found her it was her answer. She also shared how much it had meant to her that we and her member friends were there for her this past week. Afterward she invited us to her apartment to cook our lunch together! Our branch president mentioned later that he thought Ivana was a member visiting because she has such a light. Ivana really is a golden investigator and I am so excited to see her progress and be baptized in March. Her husband needs a little more time but I know she will have an amazing influence on him and change the lives of her family.

Veronica and her family a few days before her baptism.

Our other grand miracle was Veronica. She was baptized and confirmed yesterday and has plans to attend the temple this coming Saturday. We had a lesson with her on Valentine's Day where we talked about love and families and how she can show more love for her children as she continues to make changes in her life. She began to cry as she shared how grateful she is for this opportunity to start over and be an example for her children. Her baptism was one of the best moments of my mission thus far. We had so much support from the members of our branch and the elders. She was beaming and her face was full of light the whole time. As her sister-in-law bore her testimony Veronica started to cry and her happiness radiated. She is going to be an amazing member and I can't wait to see the changes in her family that are to come.

The whole bunch.  Aren't they wonderful!

Hermanas Millet and Castellanos with Veronica

Classic shot of us and Veronica with her kids. We had been chasing Gabriel and Matias for five minutes just to get this shot.  It is the best we were able to get. :)

We are still waiting on the signature of Miriam, the mother of Bruno, but he loves church and has now been 4 or 5 times. We talked with her on Friday and I think as we are careful to be sensitive to the needs of Miriam and include her in the whole planning process of Bruno we will be able to see his baptism this weekend.

This week we have a lot of work ahead to find new investigators who can progress and be baptized in March. This week we found some awesome new investigators but they are basically all juntado. We're going to work with them for one more week but if they don't have plans to get married we can't keep teaching them.

I have hope that I will be able to stay in Lujan another transfer but if not I want to leave Lujan better than I found it, flourishing with investigators, members who are excited for the work and an area blessed with the spirit of the Lord.

One of our favorite streets in Lujan because it is so peaceful and pretty. We try to walk down it every chance we get. 

On Thursday Hermano Luis gave us milanesa to cook in our apartment for lunch. We don't exactly have a lot of experience cooking milanesa so we put a little oil in the frying pan and started to cook it. When it started to brown we took it out and were ready to eat. Well as we began cutting into the meat we realized it was still a little red. We didn't have much time for lunch so we just ate it. lol. Terrible, I know. We are still alive though so it's all good. We also asked around and found out how to cook it the Argentine way with a ton of oil. Hooray! We'll be gorditas but we won't die of raw meat.

Milanesa!

On Sunday we have a member who brings lunch to us to cook at home as well. Well, each week they get a little more interesting. This week I have a competition for you all. I will list the ingredients and the person who can come up with the best recipe wins a prize. Three eggs, two packets of ketchup (the kind you get at McDonalds), a can of peas (I think they were basically peas, not sure exactly what they are) and a package of 6 hot dogs. Good luck! Luckily, Ivana is amazing and she had a few more ingredients that we used to make a decent meal.

Ooh guess what else. Random fact of the day. President gave us permission to ride our bikes on calles de tierra! Hooray! It's definitely an adventure, kind of like mountain biking all day but much faster.

I think that is about all for the week. Thank you for all your love and support and everything. I love your letters and pictures! I am continuing to pray for each of you. Please let me know if there is anything specific I can pray for.

Love your favorite Valentine,

Hermana Millet

Familia!

Hola! Como están?! Perdón por mi desanimo en la semana pesada. Estaba un poquito cansada y desanimado. Estoy mejor hoy y muy agradecida por sus cartas y fotos.

Lujan has gotten a ton of rain this week, but we have been super blessed that most of it is during the night or during our studies in the morning. There have been a lot of homes and streets flooded and some people can't live in their homes right now. The other day we also had an amazing lightning storm.

Drenched Missionaries!

Wet to the bone!

This week I had the wonderful opportunity to travel to Caseros for exchanges.

I was excited and nervous for the opportunity to learn from and teach the Hermanas there. Both Hermana Leiva and Hermana DeLeon have more time than I do in Argentina, and I was a little worried they might not like being helped by someone so young. The Lord definitely qualifies whom he calls, however, and I felt the spirit of discernment with me as I listened to their concerns and worked with them to find the right suggestions and words of advice to help them. They were both wonderfully humble and grateful and willing to learn and hopefully apply what we talked about.

On Wednesday I worked with Hermana Leiva. I was immediately impressed with her love, openness and obedience. She is a wonderful missionary who is really trying to serve the Lord with all her heart, might, mind and strength. She has a great desire to improve and we talked a lot about setting goals and following through so that she can see progress in herself and her work as a missionary.

Hermana Leiva and Jennifer

Hermana DeLeon was more in need of exchanges. She immediately opened up and talked to me about all of her doubts and concerns personally and with her companion. She really needed someone to listen. I was impressed with her gratitude for me and for what she learned.

Hermana De Leon and Hermana Millet

Overall, I enjoyed the experience, learned from them and hope that they took some of my suggestions and can use them to become more effective servants of the Lord. I was so grateful for the spirit which helped me to be in tune with their needs and find ways to help them in their area.

With Hermana DeLeon on Thursday we had an amazing lesson with a woman named Deborah. We were there to talk to her sister-in-law, a previous contact, but she wasn't super interested. Hermana DeLeon was extremely in tune with the spirit and was able to discern that Deborah needed repentance.

She began to cry as she explained that she has a great carga (no recuerda la palabra) ...load or burden. I took her hand and we read Alma 7:11-13 about the atonement and how the Savior understands her feelings. We then continued with the following verses about baptism. She committed to be baptized but is juntado (living with her boyfriend) and can't be baptized right now. I, pretty boldly, told her that to be baptized she needs to follow the commandments and get married and she agreed right away! I don't know what will happen with her but I felt an awesome connection with her and was so grateful to feel like I was in the right place at the right time to help this sweet woman.

We also have a miracle investigator in our area, named Ivana. She just so happens to be our next door neighbor in our apartment, literally a wall away. She moved in about the same time I did and is friends with a member. I knew that Hermana Suarez had tried to contact her but we never really got a chance to talk. This week she was outside talking with her member friend and we set an appointment to visit with her. SHE IS GOLDEN!!!

She talked with missionaries before but never went to church or committed. She has been praying to find a church and has been accepting everything without doubt. She accepted a baptismal date in the first lesson and is married!!! In the first lesson she asked about what happens after this life and we were able to share the plan of salvation and forever families. She loves the focus the church has on families (she has a 7 year old and an almost 2 year old).

She wasn't able to come to church this Sunday because she already had plans with her family, but she has already committed to go next Sunday. The only worry we have is her husband who doesn't want to listen to us and is worried that she will change if she joins the church. We are praying that he will be able to see the blessings that come to his family and with time he will be interested as well.

We still have yet to get Miriam (the mom of Bruno) to sign the permission slip for his baptism. This week we wrote an awesome letter to give to her with the baptismal date in hopes that she will sign it and he can be baptized this month.

In our area we are seeing more success but are still frustrated with the attendance in sacrament meeting. This week was a great test of faith for both Hermana Castellanos and I as all our perfect plans with investigators resulted in disappointment.

We were sure that Veronica and Bruno would be in sacrament meeting and we spent all day Saturday trying to contact investigators to commit to church. On Saturday night many of our prospective plans fell through but we received two miracle phone calls from investigators who wanted to go to church!

This is Pascual, Bruno and Lautaro.  Aren't they precious!!

In the morning we set out to find an investigator and go with him in colectivo. Hermana Castellanos woke up with a cold and wasn`t feeling well and I have been having a lot more back pain this week. Anyway, neither of us felt well but we ventured out into the semi-flooded streets to find this investigator. He wasn't at home but by a miracle we saw him walking in the street! He told us he wanted to change clothes first and so we told him we would wait (we couldn't follow him very well because of the water and mud). He didn't come and didn't come and was nowhere to be found.

Finally an hour late for church we arrived and the only investigator we had was Bruno (porque Pascual es un capo). We set out with Presidente in his car to find Veronica so she can be baptized this Saturday and she wasn't at home. Therefore, our goal for 5 investigators and 5 progressando and 100% was down to basically nothing.

With all the stress and disappointment of the investigators and our physical pain we were basically both at our breaking point. Then President asked me to give a talk in sacrament meeting in about 5 minutes. I did alright but as I began to bear my testimony and thank the members etc. I started to cry. I couldn't contain all the stress etc. As I sat back down the pain in my back was really bad and Hermana Castellanos and left for the bathroom to cry together for a minute. When we returned we still hadn't composed ourselves and all the members started turning around looking at us in concern. After sacrament meeting they all came to talk to us and love us. They are WONDERFUL! However, with all the love we cried even more. We were a mess haha! The elders were great and gave us both blessings and we rested a little in the afternoon and are both doing a little better now.

My back still has quite a bit of pain but I'm going to try not to carry anything this week and be really careful and take a ton of ibuprofen. With our investigators we are still wondering what more we need to do to have success. This week I plan to search for ways to be more diligent and more obedient and really stress the commandment of the Sabbath day to our investigators. I am grateful for another week to improve and set new goals to achieve 100%.

Thank you all so much for your prayers and letters and love and concern! I am praying for you each day! I love you sooo much!

Love,

Hermana Millet

PS. Your question about meals with members. Argentines don't really eat dinner or if they do it is super late so we have lunch at 1:00 with members. Flia Magnu is wonderful and feeds us Friday and Sunday (their twin daughters are going to be baptized the week after transfers so we are teaching them right now and praying that we will be here for their baptism). Flia Merlo feeds us Saturday's and wonderful Hermano Luis buys us food to cook in our apartment on Thursdays. We used to have meals on Tuesdays and Wednesdays but they both left so we are searching for more because we don't have money to buy food.

Love from your favorite wet missionary!

Family,

Well...it's been an interesting week. Where to start?

The highlight of our week was spent in the capacitaciones this week. (Note from the editor: I have no idea what capacitaciones means.) Hermana Castellanos and I learned so much from President Carter, from the post-pastores (missionaries who extended their mission and are on special assignment for a few weeks) and the assistants, as well as each of the missionary companionships we worked with. It was such a wonderful opportunity to be a part of.

As you know, all of the missionaries had a special training this week in Ramos. As HLE (Sister Training Leaders) it was our job to help train. Our assigned day was Thursday. We woke up at 4:15 and President Carter was nice enough to let us take a Remis (kind of taxi) into Ramos so that we didn't have to travel so early in the morning with public transportation. We arrived in Ramos at 7:00 and at 8:00 our first group of missionaries arrived. Throughout the day we had four groups of missionaries for two hours. The missionaries rotated through different stations for 1/2 hour each. We had a station in which we taught 16 different companionships through the day. (Hopefully that explanation makes sense).

One of the great lessons I learned was in the humility of the missionaries we worked with. We saw post-pastores who were completely willing to learn and improve, even though they don't have much time left in the mission, and even though we probably know nothing compared to them, they asked after each practice how they could improve. Unfortunately, we also saw missionaries who were closed off to advice and really didn't seem eager to learn and improve. One of the greatest goals of my mission is to develop the kind of humility that I witnessed with some missionaries and really understand how I can learn from everyone.

I also loved the opportunity to learn about teaching simply, knowing the doctrine, using inspired questions, listening to the investigator, my companion and the spirit, giving a strong commitment etc. I received so much inspiration in playing the investigator to really know how they might feel and what teaching methods really bring the power of the spirit. Practicing over and over again with the missionaries for two days was an invaluable learning experience for me.

The day before we had learned that one of our favorite families (Familia Magnu) was going to be sealed on Friday. Hermano Sebastian was baptized a year ago and now they can all be sealed. Here's the catch. Hermana Lorena (his wife) thought that they were going to the temple just for his endowment but he had secretly planned to have them sealed as a family directly afterwards. (Awww....)

Anyway, they invited us but we aren't allowed to go unless it is a convert of ours. The missionary who baptized Hermana Sebastian is still here, however, and she is allowed to go. On Thursday we got a hold of her and told her about the sealing, but unfortunately she is an HLE as well and she was supposed to be in the training on Friday.  She was torn as to what to do. Hermana Castellanos and I volunteered to return to Ramos on Friday and do the training for her so she could attend the sealing.

Hermana Carter thought this was a good idea but we decided it wasn't worth the time to travel back to Lujan. We didn't have a place to stay so Hermana Carter offered for us to stay with her and the President in the mission home! So we went to dinner just the two of us with President and Hermana Carter and then stayed in their daughter's room for the night. We wore the same clothes and the same makeup and didn't brush our teeth for two days but it was totally worth it because we got to talk with President Carter and be on the inside scoop of everything and participate in the training once again. It was an awesome experience!

Because we were in the office for more time we also got to participate in a special meeting with the assistants, Hermana Carter, and some post-pastores where we discussed all the missionaries and how they did in the training and who needs to come back again etc. It was super interesting and I learned a lot.

Hermana Castellanos and I immediately began putting into practice the things we learned in our lessons on Saturday. Although we still need to improve we both noted a difference in our lessons. As we tried to discern the need of a new investigator we were able to push past the surface and really find what she needed. We were able to set a baptismal date with her after teaching the restoration. The next day when she didn't follow through with her commitment we practiced showing our devastation and then simply taught the Sabbath day in an organized manner using the lesson points taught to us by President Carter. I know we will continue to see more success as we practice these techniques.

Our great miracle this week was with an investigator Veronica. I taught her a few times with Hermana Suarez in my first few weeks here in Lujan but we didn't continue to teach her. About 2 weeks ago she stopped Hermana Castellanos and I in the street and asked when we were going to come back and teach her. At that time she was juntado (living with her boyfriend) and we taught her familias eternas and the law of chastity. We couldn't get a hold of her for a few days but finally found her with a member family. She decided that she doesn't want to marry the man she was living with and would rather eventually marry the father of her children who is a member. She is now living alone and has committed to keep the law of chastity. She immediately asked for a baptismal date and right now has a date for the 15th of this month and is progressing wonderfully! She is so excited to change her life and be an example for her children. She read all of first Nephi and is eating up every lesson. I am so excited to help her make the changes in her life to enjoy the blessings of the gospel, especially for her children.

We are still working to get our investigators to church every Sunday and improve our success. I know with hard work and faith we can have progressing investigators which will translate into baptisms and lives changed.

Is Shaylee gone? How is everyone doing? How is Koda? I'm alright about Shaylee being gone. I was busy during the week and didn't have much time to think about it but last night and today as I have had more time to think it's been a little more difficult. Thank you for the pictures. Yesterday a little boy asked me if I have dogs. I told him I have one. He asked me why I don't have two and that was kind of sad. Luckily I get to focus on other things though and am not home to feel the void.

In food news: On Tuesday we discovered a Snickers wrapper on the ground and have been in search of where to find one ever since. Nobody knows what they are! Eventually we found some friends of our investigator who gave us directions to a kiosco that sells them! We each bought one this morning, even though they cost a ton, and are going to enjoy today.

We also ordered ice cream this week! Hooray! I miss desserts and I have been enjoying a little helado (ice cream).

Also, I don't know if I've told you about a tradition in the mission called Oreo night. Each Thursday night we eat Oreos and talk and it's super fun. I didn't do it with Hermana Suarez but Hermana Castellanos and I do it each week (sometimes multiple times a week). Well, in reading Nicole's last letter I learned she had Oreo night as well on Thursday! YAY! You need to try putting the Oreo in milk and letting it soak for a minute and then eat it with a spoon. Mmmmm....

I think that's about it for this week. It's been a little crazy and rainy. I LOVE YOU TTTTTTTTTTTTHHHHHHHHHHHHHHIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIISSSSSSS much!

Have a wonderful week!

Love your favorite wet missionary,

Hermana Millet