Guess what time we woke up again today? YAY! 3:45! This last week it was a test of our health, but today I think I'm doing a little better. We got to go to capital today for my paperwork for my VISA. I am now officially almost legal! Can I just tell you Capital is beautiful! I LOVE Lujan and my area but it is extremely different than the states. Capital actually looked like a city and it wasn't full of trash and oh my goodness it was lovely. I also saw the ocean! YAY! In my mission I have seen the Atlantic and the Pacific. I also caught a glimpse of the street on my blog with the cool tower thing. While waiting in line for six hours we talked with a returned missionary from California that is here to study. He served in the Neuquén mission with Daren. His name is Elder Gonzales.

First of all, I want to let you all know how much I love the mission and how much fun I am having! I am afraid I don't always let that show in my letters. Email time is almost as much for me as it is for you, as it gives me a time to reflect on the week and therefore, time to review what I can do better. Hermana Castellanos and I are having so much success and so much joy right now at this time in our mission and I am convinced a large part of this happiness and success is as a result of our desire to constantly improve. I know that the Lord has blessed us with miracles due to our hard work and search to be better. He always expects more of us than we think we can give and when we push ourselves to be what He knows we can be that is when He gives us miracles which we are experiencing right now. Thank you so much for all your words of encouragement and love. I am so grateful for cheerleaders like you. Rest assured I am happier than I have ever been in the mission. :)

This week our focus has really been on our upcoming fechas for the month.

Oscar (the friend of Pascual) is as ready as ever for his baptism this week. He is so sweet and loves to learn more about the gospel. He is participating in the lessons at church and changing his habits to become more converted. The other day he had a bad day and after our lesson we told him to pray, that night he called us to tell us he had and that he felt much better. We are so excited to see him grow and progress and find happiness in the gospel.

Alicia is also doing well. She has a lot of health problems and can't seem to remember her fecha for the life of her but whenever we remind her she talks about how excited she is. To be completely honest, she will not be the most prepared baptismal candidate who remembers every principle and lesson but she has a desire to be baptized and come closer to Christ and for me that is enough.

Some of our greatest joys this week have come from working with the Fernandez Family. Every time we talk to them I am filled with more love than I know what to do with.  I wish I could express to you how wonderful they are. Their process of conversion and repentance has not come in a grand miracle but it has come slowly in every lesson and every small decision they make to read the Book of Mormon, pray and attend church. Gabriela, who couldn't stop talking about her capillita and family traditions in the first lesson is now asking us how to deal with her family as she tells them about her decision. She saved facturas (kind of like pastry doughnut things) for our lesson on Sunday and their whole family is sacrificing their Sunday morning to come to church. Dionisio who told us he would listen to us but wasn't religious now knows in his heart that he will be baptized and has desires to receive the priesthood. He wants to invite us over to have asado and tells us how he never let anyone into his house to talk about religion until us. Each one of their boys came to church in white shirts this week and are praying about baptism. Their faces light up with smiles when they see us and ALWAYS shake our hands and call us hermanas (they are more well-behaved than pretty much every family in the church). Each morning and night we pray for miracles with this family and we are seeing them every day. I know there are many reasons that Hermana Castellanos and I have had the privilege of working together again this transfer but I am sure one of them was to find this family and see them be baptized together. It is going to take work on our part and theirs to see them until their baptism but I KNOW they will be baptized as a family.

We are talking with Juana right now about whether she should marry Miguel or not. She as her papers and is in the process of preparing for her marriage on the 4th but we are worried that she is only getting married to get baptized. Really, Miguel probably is not going to change. She is praying like crazy but he is still drinking a ton and is jealous and protective (he won't let her leave the house without him and locks her inside at night so she can't leave). We hate to tell her to leave after we've talked so much about the family with them hoping that he will change but we also hate to lock her into a dangerous situation without a light at the end of the tunnel. We are really encouraging her to pray seriously about her decision and be willing to leave if that is what the Lord tells her is best. The members are awesome and are willing to help. We will see what happens.

This week we were extremely protected by the Lord in some very obvious ways. On Thursday it rained ALL day long. We had plans to travel to Open Door (about 1/2 hour away in bus). Our only appointment told us she couldn't make it the night before and the member who was going to feed us lunch there called about an hour before we were supposed to leave and cancelled. We were a little disappointed and decided to change our plans. We were so excited to hopefully find more people there and weren't sure why our plans were falling through. Well, come to find out the colectivos that day stopped after midday and had we gone to Open Door we would have been stranded there for the night. Miracle.

We ended up going to another area that we hadn't yet been to that is a little bit farther away as well. Even though it was raining and no one was outside we ended up finding a less active member and her non-member mom as well as four more new investigators. Miracle.

That night we went to Ameghino to teach a lesson in the home of the Alvarez Family. As we were standing outside we heard gunshots just a block away (like we could look down the street about five houses and see everything) and then a bunch of people yelling and cars screeching. It was basically like we were in the middle of an action movie. These members told us that this is normal in their neighborhood, like right where we were standing it happens all the time! Well, we entered their house and taught the lesson and then had to leave to walk home. We had to walk past where all the action was about an hour before and it was super dark. Right as we were about to leave it started to rain a whole lot harder with lots of wind. We realized, however, as we began walking what a miracle this was. With the storm going on no one was outside to bother us as we walked home in peace. Miracle.
P.S. Don't worry, we don't have plans to go back to that neighborhood at night.

I have a special request this week. I would greatly appreciate your added prayers for our fechas for this month, especially the Fernandez Family. Dionioso needs to pray and quit smoking and Gabriel (his son 16) also needs to keep the word of wisdom and pray about baptism. Thank you so much! I know with added prayers and faith we are going to see more miracles with them!

I love you all soo much family. Thank you for all of your prayers and love and support. I am so grateful for the wonderful experiences I am having and for the opportunity to serve a mission. I love you!

Hermana Millet

Familia!

Guess what time I got up this morning? 3:45! Hooray for the mission in Argentina! On the bright side, I am almost legal here in Argentina. I had to go to Ramos today and visit a bunch of different buildings to fill out paperwork for my VISA. Luckily we are now back in Lujan, after eating lunch in McDonald's (It was heavenly. Have I told you how much I miss American food?) and we might have a tiny bit of time to nap before we start work again.

Giselle and Lourdes Magnou were baptized on Saturday!  Aren't they adorable! They are one of our favorite families here.  They are kind of like our little investigators, as we taught them all the lessons in preparation for their baptism.  It's so beautiful to see a family like theirs all thanks to two elders who baptized their mom about 6 years ago.  A year ago her husband was then baptized and now her two daughters.  They were sealed in the temple about a month ago and are now one of the strongest families in the ward.  I love miracles!

News for the week:

Bruno was finally confirmed! Hooray! He was baptized two weeks ago but after complications with President and his mom etc. etc. we weren't able to have his confirmation until yesterday, but he is now official!

We had 10 people in sacrament meeting! You all probably have no idea, but this is HUGE! We have not had more than about 3 or 4 at any given week and this week we finally did it! We had planned about 18 seguros (people that told us they would for sure be there Sunday). As always about half of what we hope for actually make it, but this was a miracle.

Juana is getting married April 1st and baptized sometime during conference weekend! FINALLY! We are sooo excited for her.

Ivana, our awesome neighbor, is struggling a little. We talked with her husband the other day (not pressuring him to listen, mostly getting to know him and asking if he is okay if we continue to talk with Ivana) and we thought it was awesome. Come to find out, after we left he got super upset. We are not allowed to contact her at this point and have to wait to hear from her because she will not go to church or talk to us if her husband is home. She is still awesome and I still have faith she will be baptized but we have to give her a little time.

Oscar, the friend of Pascual who came to church last week is still doing great. He was crying in the last lesson again because he just feels so content. Can you say aww?

In searching for Oscar one day we found his neighbor and began teaching her. They both came to church on Sunday and she is getting baptized the week after! Hooray! They are both super sweet and old and lonely and want to talk to us like every day.

The Fernandez Family. Did I tell you about them? Married! Four sons that can be baptized! And...ready for it...ready...they ALL came to church Sunday! They were all dressed up nice and the most well behaved kids in sacrament meeting. We have a super important lesson with them tonight in which we will hear how they felt in church. They still aren't super set on baptism and actually committing to change their lives but they are amazing. Say a little prayer for us tonight that we will have the spirit and help them to realize their need for the gospel. They are amazing.

Open Door. We have this area called Open Door that is about half an hour away in colectivo. We have wanted to go every week but something always comes up and it's a lot of time that could be wasted. On Wednesday night this week we had plans to go Thursday but didn't have a lot of contacts or names of people to visit. We were behind on our indicators for the week and weren't sure if it would be a good use of our time. We decided to go in faith, knowing that there are people prepared waiting to hear from us.

Well, Thursday afternoon (after a few bumps in the road) we made it to Open Door. We arrived at a street to contact one of the few references we had just in time to talk to a woman walking in the street named Delia. We ended up walking with her to her house around the corner, teaching her and committing her to be baptized. It was absolutely a miracle. She is wonderful and so completely prepared. Stay tuned to hear how it goes with her.

On Wednesday we had a meeting with all the HLE. Unfortunately our numbers, as a group, were the lowest in the mission. Lower than the zone leaders, district leaders, all the elders in the mission and even all the other hermanas. Terrible, especially because we need to be examples. Basically President had to get after us to pick it up. Luckily Hermana Castellanos and I had success the week before and President excluded us from all his comments. He was super great with us and told us to keep up the good work. It was also great to hear all of his words of advice, however, because I know I still have a lot to improve upon.

At the beginning of the meeting he had an hermana (who is not an HLE) tell her story of how she and her companion had been working extremely hard and not seeing success but now their area is booming and they have baptisms almost every week this month.

Here are some of my thoughts that I sent to President regarding this:

Hermana Peterson's story was an inspiration for me. Her humility and diligence to find her weaknesses and be willing to improve upon them is exactly what I needed to hear. Please let her know how much I appreciate her example. It was a great wake up call to me that the Lord expects more of me than sometimes I want to, or think I can give but if I am really here to serve Him I will do all I can to be what he needs me to be.

 I have felt like we have been in the same situation for the past two transfers, fighting to achieve more than 60%. I knew both Hermana Castellanos and I were capable missionaries who wanted to have success but we weren't seeing it. Every week I finished asking what more we could do.

Fast forward to today. After two and a half transfers we finally achieved 100%. The assistants and elders in the offices were offering congratulations and Elder Dos Santos asked what we did different this week. I have been pondering this question for the past 24 hours and the answer is nothing and everything.

We don't have some magical answer: something that we changed and automatically achieved success. The answer is two transfers worth of continual improvement with little changes, being more obedient in staying at lunch for exactly an hour or less, being more diligent in staying in the street to contact until 9:00 even if we can't see someone coming, and finding better ways to teach, verify commitments, and repent of our mistakes. In short, we are striving to gain the trust of the Lord day by day.

I believe one of the reasons the Lord needed us to stay together another transfer was to see the complete process. We have worked and wondered, just like I'm sure many missionaries are wondering right now what they can do. I have learned that it is possible to achieve 100% and I plan on staying at a level of success at or above 80% for the rest of my mission by never being satisfied. I know the Lord expects me to continue to grow and improve each day and I will look for ways to be more worthy of His trust and be an instrument in His hands.

This is Pancho (a little piece of him).  He is our spider friend that comes out at night to say hello to us when we enter our apartment. 

Remember when I introduced you to Pancho, our spider friend, last week?  Well, this picture below is  NOT him.  Our apartment has become a zoo with all sorts of terrible creatures.  I have so far killed two cockroaches, a few crickets and about 1,000 mosquitoes and this monster. Hermana Castellanos killed his twin in the study room.  I don't know if you can tell in this picture, but he was about a foot away from my pillow when we discovered him right before bed.  Needless to say, we're a little creeped out.  Eeew!

Monster spider!

Well that's about all for the week. It was wonderful! Thank you again for all your love and support and prayers. I know the church is true with all my heart. I am so grateful for the conversion process I am having as a missionary and for the growth I am able to see in others!

Love,

Hermana Millet

Unfortunate business first. We found out on the Buenos Aires West mission blog today that they are no longer accepting packages. "We are sorry to say that with new restrictions and fees that are being imposed by the government of Argentina, we are no longer able to accept packages. We have made this decision in conjunction with President Robertson, who will preside over the mission beginning in July and in conjunction with other missions in Argentina. Do not use other methods such as FedEx, DHL or UPS as we will not attempt to retrieve those packages."


My wonderful darling familia,

So as you all know, it turns out God has something important for Hermana Castellanos and I to do together. As far as I know we are about the only companionship to be together for 3 transfers. It's pretty much unheard of. Hermana Castellanos took a video of the phone call and I can't wait to show it to you. Our faces are priceless. They first told Hermana Castellanos that she was staying and I look like I'm about to die (because in my head this means I'm leaving). When they said that I was staying as well, we both starting screaming and jumping up and down. It's hilarious. Our ward is pretty happy as well.

On the colectivo going to transfer meeting.

We had a few problems in our companionship this week as we had a lot of stress. There were also some things that I wanted to improve as we are together again.  Perhaps I didn't express myself in the best way because Hermana Castellanos got pretty upset. I'm learning how to adapt to her style and be more sensitive to her needs. Things are great now, however, and I'm looking forward to being together again.

This week was extremely difficult for us but we were able to learn some wonderful lessons and witness amazing miracles through the hand of the Lord. I am so grateful for his concern for me personally amidst my trails.

This is the Magnou family. They are wonderful.
 They are feeding us 2 or 3 times a week right now.

I have come to really appreciate the power of the atonement and repentance this week personally and for my investigators. On Monday we learned that one of our converts was having problems with the Word of Wisdom. We realized that his problem was greater than we had realized before his baptism and felt that we should have possibly postponed his baptism and helped him to be more firm after his baptism. That night we felt immense guilt that we had not better prepared him to keep his baptismal covenants. We determined with the help of our branch president that we would make him a priority and help him to fully repent and be a worthy priesthood holder. Throughout the week we visited him each day to verify his progress and encourage him to attend church and partake of the sacrament. President Peralta also went with us to help him with the repentance process and give him love and support. Each day I felt that he was a little better and I could feel the spirit with him more and more. On Sunday as he partook of the sacrament I felt a great peace knowing that he is clean once again and can continue to be so as he works to overcome his addiction.

On Sunday morning I was about at the end of my rope. I pretty much wanted to leave Argentina and get a hug from my mommy. We had disappointment once again with investigators in sacrament meeting and after the stress of the week I wasn't sure how I could keep going. When I entered sacrament meeting, however, and participated in the sacrament I prayed for repentance for my mistakes and weaknesses. I also prayed that I could give over my burden and my stress to the Lord so I could continue with strength that day and start a new week. By the end of sacrament meeting nothing had changed in our situation but the weight was lifted. I have appreciated the ordinance of the sacrament in the past but never have I felt such a relief afterward. I am so incredibly grateful for the opportunity to go to church every week and be forgiven of my sins. I am also grateful to be an agent of repentance for others and help them to receive of this gift each week as well.

There are so many wonderful miracles to share but I think one of the best is with a man named Oscar. On Sunday we saw a man in Elder's Quorum whom we had said hi to many times on our bikes but had never talked to (terrible I know). We both thought maybe he was already a member. After talking to President, however, we found out he was a friend of Pascual. He is 77 years old, has 33 grandchildren, 17 great grandchildren and 1 great great grandchild. We sat with them during sacrament meeting and afterward as I talked with him I invited him to be baptized. I have never seen someone more excited for this question in my life. He said of course he wants to be baptized as soon as we can do it. That night we had a lesson with him and Pascual and he just kept telling us how content he feels and so grateful he is to change his life. He was almost in tears by the end of the lesson because he was so happy.

The second half of this miracle is with Pascual. He was baptized in November, about 10 days after our first lesson with him. Since then he has started his family history work, been to the temple, baptized his grandson and last night he was practically teaching the whole lesson to his friend Oscar.

Pascual and Bruno. Pascual was crying when we left his house Tuesday night because he was worried one of us was going to leave.

It is amazing how the weeks that are the hardest are sometimes also filled with the greatest miracles. I know the Lord has something important for Hermana Castellanos and me to do here in Lujan. We still have a lot to improve upon but we know we have people to find and lives to change.

There is so much more to tell you but I'm about out of time. I love you all so much and I am so grateful for your love and support. I definitely wouldn't have made it through this week without you. I continue to appreciate your prayers, especially so that we can have success and be examples to our zone and with health (I now have a cold from all the stress and my back is so so). I am continuing to pray for you. I LOVE YOU!

Hermana Millet

PS. I've been terrible at responding to people. Please tell Aunt Nancy, Aunt Kathy and Jason and Bryce hello and I love them and I'm sorry. One day I will find time to respond.

PPS. Tell Grandma I'm sorry about her knee, to feel better and I love her! And thank her for feeding you when you have no kitchen.

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