Final Assignment

Hola Hola!! So this week was changes. The news is actually quite shocking for me! On Friday night, President Gillespie called me and the words he said were the following: "Elder Millard, I am calling to give you your final assignment of your mission. I´m sending you to Villa Alemana Oeste with Elder Pérez. You will be serving in the ward, Huanualí as zone leader." Wow, I am officially going to the last area of my mission. I can´t believe it. I still feel like i´m new in the mission, this can´t be happening. I´m really excited to go there and go to work, finish my mission with a bang. I have heard really good things about the ward though. Apparently it is the best organized ward in the entire mission with great members. My companion is awesome as well. He is from Spain. I´m excited to meet him and i´ll let you all know how things go this week in my new/last area.

The first day of this change was one to remember. We had seven set appointments for the day, we had some great investigators to teach, everything looked great. The result was a little different than the expectations. All of the appointments fell through, Elder Lloyd got bit by a dog, we were almost assaulted by a bunch of drunk men, and nobody wanted to talk to us. We kept telling ourselves, "we can´t let this get us down." We kept walking with a smile, and worked the rest of the day with enthusiasm and a great attitude. The way we reacted to this first day of the change really set the tone for the whole change. I would say that the theme of this change was "Joy in the journey." In very few words, that is how things went this change. We always had great attitudes, we had incredible companionship unity, and we had an absoulute blast together. Today for our final testimonies, I said that throughout the whole change, Elder Lloyd and I never had a disagreement, never got mad at eachother, and didn´t even have any contention to the least bit. When we shared this with them in the final testimony, they did not believe us. But it is true. We have been sharing alot with Marcelo and Claudia, two inactives as of seven years that are coming back to church. When we shared with them last night, they shared with us the reason that they wanted to change. (because in the transcourse of their inactivity, many missionaries, home teachers, leaders of the church tried to go to their house and help them come back to church.) We asked them, "what did we do special.?" They explained to us that the first time we stepped into their house, they could feel a special spirit of unity. They felt something special, that only comes when two companions are absolutely unified. When there is unity, the spirit is present. Because of the spirit they felt, they have been coming to church these last two sundays, and the daughters are now preparing to get baptized. I know that when we do things because we want to do them, we will do them better. I know that if we are having fun, life is just so much more enjoyable, and it is all a decision. We decide how we want to see things. For example, with the first day of this change, we could have chosen to say, oh, how dumb is this, but instead we chose to laugh and say, wow, that will be fun to put in my journal... Joy in the journey. I love my mission. This was a great change with Elder Lloyd.

Antonio and Erica are doing great! They are still reading every day, praying as a family each day, and going to church each week. I love them so much! They have come so far. They cannot stop explaining to us how the gospel has changed their lives. They always say that they are so happy, their house is so peaceful, and all the aspects of their lives are going better. Their jobs are thriving, their health is better, they are happier... The gospel has so many blessings in store for us. They are such great examples of faith to me. They were willing to flip their lives 180 degrees so that they are in harmony with the gospel of Jesus Christ. They have had to make so many changes, and they are determined to endure to the end. I have had the privilege of helping alot of people here in Viña change their lives and come unto Christ, and by doing so, they have changed my life through their examples. I love the people that I have been teaching here so much. But we will all see eachother in the Celestial kingdom someday! Thats the joy of the gospel.

Carlos blessed the sacrament this last sunday!! That made me so happy. He is even coming to church in a suit that the young mens president gave him. He us such a stud and is doing great. He is waiting for his brother Germaín to come back from Chillan, so he can baptize him. They will both be great missionaries.

Love you all!

Chaíto

Elder Millard