Week 6

Hola!!!!! Wow, I can't believe its already week 6! So Crazy! This last week was great at the good ole MTC. I had some great experiences and learned so much. Apparently, this is the time when missionaries start to get a little lazy and stop increasing in knowledge because they have been here for a while and they think they know everything, but i'm definitely trying to not level off, i'm going to keep working hard and strive to prepare myself as good as i can for chile! Thats why were out here right, is to work hard and give all our heart, might, mind and strength. my teacher said that the things he remembers most from his mission were 1. the people he met and how they influenced eachother, and 2. his determination and how hard he worked. so its super important to work hard and i will do my best! this week was so awesome! i'll start off with the weekly toe update.... so this week, nothing really dramatic happened!!! Hoorah! my toe actually feels great most of the time. I go in this week on thurs to the specialist to get the final consensus. I really just want to know so bad what my fate is with this lovely toe!! ha But you can sleep soundly, "Das Sandle" is doing his job. We taught so many lessons this week! seriously like two to three a day, but it was so beneficial. On this last Thurs, the dynamic trio came through yet again! we taught this lesson to a random missionary who had supposedly (in this hypothetical situation) already been a investigator but had to be dropped. So the actual lesson went super well! everything just flowed and the spirit was so strong! after we were done, she was giving us feedback... when she talked about how she felt and the spirit that was there, she started crying. it was so awesome to see the influence of the spirit. one of the reasons the spirit was so strong is because there were a lot of testimonies given. Testimony is such a powerful tool to bringing the spirit! There was another lesson that went really well this week. We taught a teacher that works in the TEC. his name is Bro. Sanders. Now i don't know what it was about this lesson, but everything was flowing so well, the spirit was super strong and after we were done, Bro. Sanders was in awe of how the lesson went. he felt the spirit so strong and we guided the lesson to exactly what his needs were! i am proud to say that this particular lesson is the Best lesson the dynamic trio has taught so far! On Thurs, we played this game where you had to speek spanish the whole day. you were only permitted 20 words in english. if anyone went over that 20 word limit, there was a punnishment the next day of which i will talk about haha. so on this particular day, i was doing great, i only had like 6 words in english and it was barely past lunch. after lunch, we went to the bookstore and elder roach asked me a question. i was in a hurry to buy pictures so we were not late for class, so i responded to his question in english without thinking! that put me at 28 words! The others that failed this game were Elder Roach, Elder Funke, Me and a few others. ha so for the punnishment. We all had to put our hands up like a raptor all day up until luch time! it was actually pretty funny! So for the RC this week!! Awesome experience! so this week, it was all in spanish again. It's always super intense when its in spanish because you never know if you will get someont ethat speeks at warp speed and can't understand them. but its all good! anyways... i had the opportunity to get ahold of two people. one who's name is Rudy, and the other who's name is Leticia. I had the experience of talking witht these people for a little about the gospel in spanish. i really felt the help of the spirit because these conversations were going so well! eventually, with rudy and with Leticia, i ended up sending missionaries to their house! So awesome! it always feels so good to help people and it feels even better when you do it in spanish!! SO awesome... I Love missionary work! Well i love you all and i pray for you! hope all is well back in the real world! Until next week! Elder Millard

Week 5 letter

Hey Hey Hey!!!! Week five come and gone! this last week was so great! I had so many great lessons and i feel like my testimony has grown so much! The spirit that is here is really something else! Through the power of the spirit, you can know the truth of all things. I have definitely seen that, through the help of the spirit, i feel like my learning capacity for the language, for teaching skills, for doctrine, has increased dramatically. I now have a greater understanding of the role of the spirit with us missionaries. in preach my gospel, it says that the spirit is everything in missionary work. i am now beginning to understand that more. it not only helps you grow and learn, but it is the only way that our investigators can understand and be truly converted. So the imfamous toe update! funny story this week... actually it is not very funny because it really hurt haha. so here i am playing frisbee. i thought to myself that frisbee would not be bad for my toe... i mean, you just stand there and throw it and it does not put stress on your toe. well the worst case scenario happened. The frisbee, coming full speed, nailed my toe dead center!!! i will just say that it did not feel very good!. i could not walk with my good old friend das sandle anymore so i resurected das boot. i've been wearing that the last few days. the swelling still has not gone all the way down. my toe is huge again! hopefully it did not mess anything up with the healing process. i realy do not want my departure date to be extended! it's not that the MTC is bad, its just that i really wanbt to get out there and start seving the people of Chile! start with the Real Deal This week, we taught lesson two in spanish probably 15 times! i could probably give the lesson in my sleep ha. It really has been so beneficial. through teaching these lessons, making mistakes, doing things well, just going for it, you really do improve. sometimes it is so hard to express yourself completely in spanish! i do not have an amazing vocabulary or anything so sometimes it is hard to answer the questions the way that i want to answer them. One particular time teaching the lesson, we mostly just asked him some simple questions and talked most of the time. he gave us some great input afterwards. he said that we should apply what we are saying to the investigator instead of just telling them what we believe. so instead of saying "we know that if we repent of our sins, the lord will forgive us." you can say "We know that when you repent of your sins, the lord will forgive you:" just apply it to their lives and let the spirit guide and testify. The elders here are so awesome! All of the elders in our district get along really well. We all have so much fun but at the same time, we learn so much as well! I feel that the addition of Elder Roach into the dynamic trio companionship has made the biggest difference! He is a great elder and adds so much with his humor and his testimony. Elder Paulsen never ceases to make me laugh! He is a great elder as well. They are both out here for the right reasons and both have such great testimonies and work ehtics. The key to a great companionship is just to love your companions and have charity towards them. Another thing that i learned this week is the importance of setting goals and keeping them. In preach my gospel, it states that you can tell what kindo of person/missionary you want to be by the kind of goals you set! it shows the true desires of you heart. a prophet once said that in many cases, if a man does not set goals, he may look back on his life and not known what he has done and not accomplished much. Setting goals is so important. once you set goals, you then have a vision of where you want to be then you work towards that. i have already noticed a difference. This mission is such a wonderful opportunity for me! President holland said "A mission is the greatest gift that God could give to a 19 year old boy." This is such a wonderful opportunity for me to serve the lord. if you really think about it, this is the lords mission and i am the instrument in his hands. I know, deep right? ha. I love you all! Until next week :) Love Elder Millard

Week 4 letter

Hey everyone!!! I can't believe it has already been 4 weeks since i have been out!! that means i am precisely done with 4 percent of my mission haha and i am loving every moment of it. This week has been so great! I never thought i could learn so much. Elder paulsen and i recieved an addition to our companionship. his name is Elder Roach. He is so awesome and brings so much to this companionship. Elder roach and i get along really well and he has such a stong testimony. This testimony really comes in handy when we are teaching lessons because it adds so much and brings the spirit so strong! So, Much has happened this week This last Wed, everyone in our district made a goal to only speak spanish for the whole day. there were a few exceptions... like speaking to people that had no clue what spanish was ha. but yeah we all spoke just spanish for the whole day! it was such an eye opening experience realizing that i do not know as much spanish as i thought with wanting to fully express myself. i got by though and i grew so much. i kinda got the easy route though because i was at the doctors most of the day and they do not all speak spanish so... speaking of the doctors... my toe update of the week :) so i talked to the doctor on tues and got an xray. due to being closed for 4th of july weekend, they were backed up on reading results so i had to come back on wed. so i come back on wed and he said....... elder, its not looking too good. there is not very much calous formation where the avulsion fracture has taken place. but before i reccommend surgery, i will send you to a specialist first to get a second oppinion. So i had to wait yet another day to await my inevitable fate. haha. On thursday, the dynamic trio companionship took a shuttle to the provo hospital for the specialist. it was super wierd leaving the MTC! i have not seen the real world for like 3 1/2 weeks so it was pretty intense ha. but when we got there, and when we were waitint in the lobby, everyone wanted to talk to us because we are the missionaries!!! ha it was so cool. the people around here have such respect for us missionaries. they were all LDS so we could not really baptize them or anything but it was still so much fun to be in this position of respect and talk to people. anyways back to the doctor. so eventually after like an hour wait, i got into the see the specialist. he took a look at my toe, made me do some tests with strength and some other cool stuff. He told me :"Elder, i think you are going to like the news" in my mind i am screaming HOORAH! ha. so i went to get yet another x ray. the doctor looks it over and says that i can get rid of the Boot and start walking with a walking shoe. So "Das boot" is history and now i have my 'Elder das Sandle." a million times better and more comfortable. so i go back in three week s to get a final checkup and see how i am healing but i guess it is looking good! thanks for your prayers!! This week was the start of teaching lesson 2. it has been quite the experience because there is so muuch to talk about and you only have around 30 min to teach the investigators. We have had some great experiences teaching these lessons. Every week, we have the opportunity to teach in the TRC. this is a place where volunteers go to recieve the lessons from the elders. so we taught the lesson 2 (in english) and it went really well! the spirit was so strong and i felt like we were able do what we are supposed to do. This is the last time that we will be able to teach in english. from here on out, everything is in spanish so wish me luck! This last tues at the RC (Refferal center) we had the opportunity to call people in the spanish portion of the calls. it was so intense because we are not all the best at spanish, i mean some are better than others but for the most part, most of us can get our thoughts across in spanish. so here we are calling people in spanish. for me, the first time someone picked up, they said "Bueno". and there i go in spanish hoping that they can understand me ha. after i am done talking, they respond. in one case, there was this lady that if she had to speak in a speaking speed contest, she would be a gold medalist! haha i could not understand a single word she said!!! so here i am, not knowing what to say, so i say.."otraves por favor". then she mumbled on for another little while then after all of that, i heard the words "adios". which i know means goodbye haha. Quite an eye opening experience. apparently the people of Chile talk super fast and slurred so i am in for a big treat :) Fun experience. so this last sunday, we went to sacrament meeting early because we just wanted to. here we are, sitting there, the dynamic trio. it was super quiet so i started playing some prelude music. one thing led to another and now i am the designated pianish for our district of like 60 elders and sisters. so every week, i will be able to play some improve prelude and then play the hymns. it will be great! With my hurt toe, i have found some fun in playing some volleyball on one foot! haha i can't really move much but i can say that i was a high jumper before my mish so that one foot can still do some damage up in the air. i get up there and spike that ball with all my might haha. its pretty awesome hah well thanks so much for all your love and support! i love you all and bueno suerte hasta el proximo semana. good luck until next week Love Elder Millard ")

Week 3 letter

Hello Hello Hello everyone!!! Greetings from the MTC! This week went by so fast but it was so amazing! So many things have happened and i have learned so much! Brody and Jordan came in on Wed. The one and only Jordan says Hi. I get to see cousin jordan like 5 times a day because he is in the same zone as me and is like 3 classrooms away. its pretty awesome! So since i have been here for three weeks, we are starting to speak spanish more and more. I am so grateful for the gift of tounges and definitely believe in it. I am so suprised how my spanish is coming along. The MTC really prepares their missionaries! So i have had some awesome experiences this week. First one... Elder paulsen and i taught a lesson on friday in the trc. we taught this lady that was a native speaker. She talked SOOO Fast. i had somewhat of a hard time understanding her but i think i got the bulk of it. The lesson went really well. i was SO suprised how i was able to communicate with her! We taught the first lesson in spanish with ease! it went so good that we even committed her to baptism at the end of the lesson and she accepted haha pretty cool! during the lesson, there was a camera recording us. after we were done teaching, Hermana Murillo gave us some great advice and some great compliments! she said to me that i almost sound like a native speaker!!! that made me so happy and so excited. she encouraged me to talk in spanish all day long and avoid english as much as i can. that will be tough but it will be great! Another great experience happened this week! So in the RC (Referral Center), i had the opportunity to get ahold of this guy named Ralph. Ralph and I talked for like 45 min. i taught him basically most of the first lesson and part of the plan of salvation. he loved to talk so much! he told me so many stories and situations in his life. I ended up testifying of the book of mormon. he was so interested and said "I have been searching for God for so long! I think i might have finally found it with you mormons!". I sent the missionaries in his area over to his house. he asked me personally if i could go over to his house to teach him. i sadly said that i couldn't because i am in the MTC in orem utah, but will be going on a mission to Chile. I totally wish i could go over to teach him though. He lives i Tucson Arizona. I know the gospel will change his life so much and i am so grateful to have brought the knowlege of this gospel to his life. He was so lonely because his wife died of cancer a few years back. i testified to him that through our church and through the temple, he would be able to be sealed to his wife forever. It was a great moment! He loved that so much. I'm just so excited that i was finally able to have my first legit missionary experience!So for the 4th of july this week, the MTC had a fireside for all the Elders and Sisters. This fireside consisted of a bunch of people acting out parts of people that led to the restoration of the church like martin luther, ben franklin, christopher columbus, and so many others. it was actually kinda funny and cheezy. these were a bunch of old guys in wigs that could not really act for the life of them. The message that was shared was great though. i learned a lot. In my oppinion, they did this fireside so nobody could sneak out to hear the one and only Carie Underwood sing haha. anyways... after the fireside, they let all of us elders go out to watch the fireworks! so many of the elders acted like they had never seen a firework before in their life! haha a bunch of them started singing hymns. haha. it was kinda funny but cool at the same time. On sunday, we had an awesome fireside that talked about the power of music and the indisputable facts of why the Book of Mormon is true! The talk about the Book of Mormon was so powerful! it talked about kiasmus (or however you spell it)... basically an ancient complex form of writing that was only done back in ancient times. there is no way that joseph smith could have known that. it also talked about certain ways that you can tell that an author wrote something by the way and amount of times he uses words like... and, the..... well they tested the book of mormon and the books of Nephi and Alma and the writings of joseph smith are all so different. it was pretty awesome. the guy that gave the talk was a lawyer and he also gave other reasons like how the three witnesses never denied their tesimonies even after they left the church. pretty powerful. So i actually find out tomorow if my toe needs surgery or not so WE WILL SEE!!! whatever happens is what is supposed to happen. Well i am loving it here and cannot wait to actually get out there to Chile and start serving!!! it will be great!!! i love you all hope to hear from you soon... in letters of course! haha. p.s. thanks for the packages and the Dear elders. it is definitely working and i love them!!Love elder Millard