Elder Millard with his mission president

Elder Millard with his mission president

Monday, September 6, 2010

week 3 in Coquimbo

Hey Hey Hey!!!!!! Another week come and gone!! I can´t believe that i am already half way through my first change. (changes are six weeks). this week was super awesome! we accomplished a lot and had some great experiences! this week was particularly different because my trainer Elder Mace was in capacitación all week (meetings/training) so i was on comp exchanges with the two other elders that live in our pension, Elder Mackay and Elder Solerno. they are super awesome and i learned so much from them. it was kinda cool to be in a trio again haha. we taught some great lessons and i learned more of the importance of bringing the spirit in the lessons, teaching with clarity and telling them what they are feeling and what it means.
the language is really coming along!! i still can´t understand everything that the chileans say but i am definitely better off than the first few days that i was here. i can now contribute a lot more in the lessons and can express myself freely. its kinda funny... sometimes my comp asks the people, ´´how long do you think my comp has been in chile?´´ suprisingly, the usual answer is about a year or so! that makes me feel super good but i obviously have a long way to go and i do not take any credit for it. i was studying in the book of mormon where it talks about all of the gifts of the spirit. one of them is the gift of tounges. so i give all the credit to the lord for helping me out.
I´m starting to get the hang of things out here! time is starting to go by faster... because let me tell you all, the first two weeks were some of the longest days of my life haha but great as well of course! but yeah i feel like i´m starting to get into the groove of things! so basically i have an awesome trainer! but yeah i´m having so much fun, working super hard, and doing everything i can to be the best missionary i can be.
elder Mace and i had some sweet experiences this week. so first off, during our daily plannig sessions at 930, we had planned some lessons and had some extra time to go find some investigators. so we prayed about it and we felt like we should go to this particular street. so the next day, we went yelling ´´Alo´´ at this street, and the first house that we stopped at, there was this guy that walked out, and he seemed so happy that we were there. he let us in right away and we sat down and got to know him a little bit. his name is Hiraldo and he plays basketball for a local chilean team. we started teaching him, and it went SUPER BIEN. this guy was so prepared to hear the gospel. we asked him inspired questions and he felt the spirit, it all made sense and he was absolutely touched by the message. we prayed on our knees afterwards and he offered the prayer. he gave thanks for the spirit that he felt and that he knows that this gospel is true. He wants to get baptized now, but the only complication is that he is moving to Conception chile in about a week and a half!!! bummer right? its all good though, the missionaries in conception will have a great prepared child of god coming their way. kinda funny though, after this awesome spiritual amazing visit, we went to go find some more people. the next person that we talked to was SO mean!! she walked out the door and yelled ´´Valla no mas!´´ which means, Just leave! just get out of here!.such a difference in preperation to hear the gospel haha.
Elder Mace and i had another great experience this week! so we were asked to give a musica number in sacrament meeting. so the morning of sunday, we chose to play abide with me. i was on the piano and elder Mace was singing. right before sacrament meeting, we went in to go make up an arrangment and practice a little bit. so after it was all prepared, sacrament meeting started and it was eventually time to give the musical number. It went so well!!! the spirit was so strong and it was such a great experience. the song made a quite a few people emotional including our branch president that gave his testimony after. Music seriously is so powerful and i am so blessed to be able to have these great experiences with music on my mission.
Our investigators are doing great! the only thing is, they still have some obsticles to overcome so keep Marcos, Danisa, Jeovanni, and Joselyn in your prayers. they are all so great and i would love to see them baptized. we have another great investigator named Gabriella that can´t have a fecha bautismal because she is living with someone and wants to get married but just has not done it yet. that is the ontly thing that is holding her back, but she is SO awesome! so keep her in your prayers too if you can! thanks
this sat the 11th is a sweet holliday in chile. apparently its the craziest up here in coquimbo so all the missionaries up here are required to be back in their pensions at 6 pm due to... oh you know ha. and next sat the 18th is even bigger. everyone goes so crazy and apparently its a pretty huge deal here in coquimbo so i´ll let you know how they go!
This week, i had the opportunity to go on an intercambio, (interchange), with elder Teebles in a place called sindempart, a little part of coquimbo. i work in tierras blancas, another part, that is about 20 min away. anyways, this was Such a great experience and we had so much Exito!! (success) we taught so many lessons and made such a big difference. it made me realize that my favorite part of being on a mission and definitely my favorite part of my mission so far has been the people, and the changes that i have seen in these people´s lives. its so cool to see the change in peoples lives when they accept the gospel. chileans are awesome humble people! its been such a blessing to get to know so many people and to learn from them.
Well, i love you all and i hope all is well back at home! until next week!
love Elder Millard

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